Computer and Technology News

• Posted on June 20th 2011 by BoT
• Source: Intel Newsroom

Paving the Way to Exaflop Performance

"Intel’s relentless pursuit of Moore’s Law -- doubling the transistor density on microprocessors roughly every 2 years to increase functionality and performance while decreasing costs -- combined with an innovative, highly efficient software programming model and extreme system scalability were noted by Skaugen as key ingredients for crossing the threshold of petascale computing into a new era of exascale computing. With this increase in performance, though, comes a significant increase in power consumption."

Intel MIC Architecture Software Development Momentum

"The Intel MIC architecture is a key addition to the company’s existing products, including Intel Xeon processors, and expected to help lead the industry into the era of exascale computing. The first Intel MIC product, codenamed "Knights Corner,” is planned for production on Intel’s 22-nanometer technology that featuring innovative 3-D Tri-Gate transistors. Intel is currently shipping Intel MIC software development platforms, codenamed “Knights Ferry,” to select development partners."

“The programming model advantage of Intel MIC architecture enabled us to quickly scale our applications running on Intel Xeon processors to the Knights Ferry Software Development Platform,” said Prof. Arndt Bode of the Leibniz Supercomputing Centre. “This workload was originally developed and optimized for Intel Xeon processors but due to the familiarity of the programming model we could optimize the code for the Intel MIC architecture within hours and also achieved over 650 GFLOPS of performance.”

• Posted on June 10th 2011 by BoT
• Source: Codisha Reviews

The next review samples in our Xigmatek lineup is the Xigmatek AEGIR SD128264.

We have already mentioned that Xigmatek has been around for a little over 5 years. The company established itself well and rather quickly in the air cooling arena. Xigmatek impressed many consumers with good quality products and performance at an affordable price level. This can not only be measured and compared but impressed audiences.

• Posted on June 2nd 2011 by BoT
• Source: DailyTech

"I wanted to buy an iPad 2, but I didn't have the money," recalls a 17-year old boy identified only by his surname, "Zheng".

So he made a shocking decision that brings to mind a legendary webcomic from the comic/satire blog The Oatmeal -- he decided to sell an organ for the Apple device. He recalls, "When I surfed the internet I found an advert posted online by agent saying they were able to pay RMB20,000 to buy a kidney."

• Posted on May 10th 2011 by BoT
• Source: DailyTech
• Source: Press Release

Microsoft just announced that it is acquiring Skype for $8.5 billion in cash. Microsoft says that Skype will bolster its "existing portfolio of real-time communications products and services."

As expected, Skype will be tightly integrated into the Xbox 360 and Windows Phone 7 platform. Microsoft is also creating a new business division called the Microsoft Skype Division, which will be headed by Skype CEO Tony Bates (he will report directly to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer).

• Posted on May 8th 2011 by BoT
• Source: Codisha Reviews

Some review samples from Xigmatek arrived. The first we will be looking at is the LOKI aka SD963. Xigmatek has been around for a little over 5 years. The company made a name for itself rather quickly and impressed many with good quality and performance oriented products. Xigmatek's "ICE" philosophy seems to be well applied and directly translates into the companies products.

The LOKI is a 92mm H.D.T vertical airflow cooler. The implemented Heatpipe Direct Touch Design allows the copper heatpipes to make direct contact with the CPU's heat-spreader, thus allowing for direct heat transfer. The design specifically in this cooler employees 3 uncoated copper heatpipes with a 6mm diameter.

• Posted on April 21st 2011 by BoT
• Source: Codisha Reviews

Today we are reviewing Swiftech's latest and greatest in air cooling, the Polaris 120. The Polaris 120 is Swiftech's comeback to the mainstream air cooling market.

The Polaris 120 high performance heat pipe heatsink marks Swiftech re-entry into the mainstream air-cooling arena. The lead concept for this product is value: packing the maximum performance and broadest range of utilizations in an affordable yet qualitative offering.

• Posted on April 14th 2011 by BoT
• Source: DailyTech

There are a number of notebooks on the market today that have USB 3.0 ports onboard. HP unveiled several new notebooks this week that that have USB 3.0 for example. However, all of the notebooks and desktops on the market today have to use a third-party USB 3.0 controller because AMD and Intel don’t support the standard natively. That is all about to change though.

AMD has announced that it has new chipsets that will be the first to integrated USB 3.0 support. AMD's Phil Hughes told CNET News, "With [today's] announcement AMD is...disclosing our support for SuperSpeed USB 3.0 in upcoming AMD A75 and A70M Fusion [chipsets]. Both chipsets are shipping today."

• Posted on April 14th 2011 by BoT
• Source: DailyTech

Seven towns pass measures condemning Republican proposal which could rob them of the right to self-governance

We've extensively discussed the controversy and conflict surrounding Bill H.129. In the face of legislation that could cripple their locally funded, voter-approved services, seven towns in North Carolina are striking back, publishing resolutions that condemn the effort.

The towns are urging state Republicans to reconsider the effort they are pushing, which looks to give the State government "blank check" authority to kill decisions made by the local government -- essentially robbing municipalities of their right to self governance.

• Posted on April 13th 2011 by BoT
• Source: DailyTech

At CES 2011, Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) CEO Steve Ballmer showed off an early build of a next generation Windows operating system running on an ARM architecture CPU. This week at Microsoft's MIX Developer Conference in Las Vegas, the company gave developers a surprise Easter egg -- a preview build of Internet Explorer 10 and its underlying version of Windows were running on a 1 GHz ARM processor.

Samsung Electronics (005930), Texas Instruments Inc. (TXN), Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM), NVIDIA Corp. (NVDA), and other ARM chipmakers have all been hard at work cooking up power savvy multicore offerings, which would be perfect for a netbook or notebook.

• Posted on April 11th 2011 by BoT
• Source: Intel Newsroom

Company Outlines Plans to Accelerate Intel Manufacturing Lead with Intel® Atom™ Processor Family and Move Faster than Moore's Law

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

• Over 35 innovative "Oak Trail" design wins from customers including Evolve III*, Fujitsu Limited*, Lenovo*, Motion Computing*, Razer*, and Viliv* available starting in May and throughout 2011.
• "Cedar Trail," Intel's upcoming netbook and entry-level desktop platform, will deliver features including Intel® Wireless Music, Intel® Wireless Display, PC Synch and Fast Boot, as well as improvements in media, graphics and power consumption.
• Innovation beyond the PC: Embedded Intel® Atom™ Z670 creates smaller, thinner, fanless devices for mobile clinical assistants, industrial tablets and portable point-of-sales devices.
• Intel is accelerating its Atom product line to move faster than Moore's law, bringing new products to market on three process technologies in the next 3 years.
• Atom platforms harness Intel's unique "operating system of choice" strategy for Google* Chrome* and Android*, MeeGo* and Windows*, delivering personalized experiences.

• Posted on April 10th 2011 by BoT
• Source: DailyTech

Microsoft just got Internet Explorer 9 out the door, but that doesn't meant that the boys from Redmond are taking a break -- they are already gearing up for Internet Explorer 10.

Microsoft dipped its toes in the HTML5 waters with IE9, but it is doing a full-blown cannonball with IE10, which it unveiled at MIX11. In its press statement announcing the availability of the IE10 Platform Preview, Microsoft claims that it "is leading the adoption of HTML5 with a long-term commitment to the standards process.

“The only native experience of HTML5 on the Web today is on Windows 7 with Internet Explorer 9,” said Dean Hachamovitch, Corporate VP for Internet Explorer. “Internet Explorer 10 will push the boundaries of what developers can do on the Web even further.”

• Posted on April 6th 2011 by BoT
• Source: DailyTech

Millions of years of evolution yielded a highly specialized response to wounding in these trees. When attacked by insects or suffering other mechanical damage, the trees emitted a thick mess of latex particles. Mixed in with those particles were capsules of the protein hevein. When the latex reached the wound, the hevein broke and was released. Active, it links the latex, closing the wound.

States the researcher, "We loaded microcapsules with a one-component adhesive (polyisobutylene) and put it in elastomers made of synthetic caoutchouc to stimulate a self-healing process in plastics. If pressure is put on the capsules, they break open and separate this viscous material. Then this mixes with the polymer chains of the elastomers and closes the cracks. We were successful at making capsules stable to production, although they did not provide the self-healing effect we wanted

• Posted on April 4th 2011 by BoT
• Source: DailyTech

Tesla filed a lawsuit against the BBC last week, citing numerous errors in Jeremy Clarkson's review of the Roadster and basically called the Top Gear crew a bunch of liars. Tesla went on to say that even though the original episode featuring the roadster aired over two years ago, the fact that the episode is still rebroadcast and available freely over the internet means that potential customers are not getting the "real" story on its "baby".

"The normal procedure for the BBC in a legal case is to acknowledge receipt of the other party’s claim, and then say no more and get on with preparing its [defense] for court," said Top Gear Executive Producer Andy Wilman. "Tesla, however, doesn’t seem content to wait for the legal eagles to settle matters. On the contrary, it’s been very busy promoting its side of the argument through the media."

• Posted on April 4th 2011 by BoT
• Source: DailyTech

Tesla filed a lawsuit against the BBC last week, citing numerous errors in Jeremy Clarkson's review of the Roadster and basically called the Top Gear crew a bunch of liars. Tesla went on to say that even though the original episode featuring the roadster aired over two years ago, the fact that the episode is still rebroadcast and available freely over the internet means that potential customers are not getting the "real" story on its "baby".

Wilman goes on to counter three of Tesla's sticking points in a blog post:

1. We never said that the Tesla’s true range is only 55 miles, as opposed to their own claim of 211, or that it had actually ran out of charge. In the film our actual words were: “We calculated that on our track it would run out after 55 miles”… The figure of 55 miles came not from our heads, but from Tesla’s boffins in California. They looked at the data from that car and calculated that, driven hard on our track, it would have a range of 55 miles.
2. We never said that the Tesla was completely immobilized as a result of the motor overheating. We said the car had “reduced power”. This was true.
3. Tesla claims we were lying when we said the brakes were “broken”. They now say that all that had happened was that the fuse to the vacuum pump had failed, which meant that the brake just had to be pushed down much harder than usual. Well – to my mind, if the brakes are broken, then they’re broken, and if this happened to your car, you’d take it to the garage to get it fixed.

• Posted on March 15th 2011 by BoT
• Source: DailyTech

It is always embarrassing when a security firm gets hacked. But it's extraordinary and perhaps unprecedented when a senior firm behind one of the industry's top security standards gets hacked.

That's precisely what happened with RSA Security who self-reported [press release] an intrusion and possible lost of data this week.

• Posted on March 17th 2011 by BoT
• Source: DailyTech

Yesterday we posted an editorial on an MSNBC article describing the quake "risk" facing U.S. nuclear plants. In our piece we discuss factual accuracy issues in that article and its overall sensational tone in failing to immediately address the supporting study's key conclusion -- that we're at extremely little risk.

Recently, our security systems identified an extremely sophisticated cyber attack in progress being mounted against RSA. We took a variety of aggressive measures against the threat to protect our business and our customers, including further hardening of our IT infrastructure. We also immediately began an extensive investigation of the attack and are working closely with the appropriate authorities.

• Posted on March 15th 2011 by BoT
• Source: DailyTech

Microsoft's Internet Explorer 9, Microsoft Corp.'s latest and greatest browser released today in finalized form. So why should we care?

First the more obvious story -- Microsoft is improving, but arguably not fast enough. IE9 looks and feels like a modern browser.

It also looks and feels noticeably slower than Chrome, Opera, or even Firefox. While the gap is not as wide as in past versions (e.g. IE8, or esp. IE 7) it is visibly apparent.

• Posted on March 14th 2011 by BoT
• Source: DailyTech

Now there's another new development in the world of SSDs. OCZ just announced that it is acquiring Indilinx Co., Ltd, which is a fabless SSD controller provider. The purchase is being financed with $32 million in OCZ common stock.

Earlier this year, OCZ announced that it would be abandoning its DRAM products -- a product line that arguably made a OCZ famous in the enthusiast community -- in order to go full-speed ahead with SSDs. At the time, Peterson noted that 78 percent of OCZ's revenue comes from its SSD products. The company also saw a 325 percent increase in revenue for its SSD business for Q3 2011 compared to Q3 2010.

• Posted on March 14th 2011 by BoT
• Source: Codisha Folding@Home

* The Codisha Folding@Home Team hits 8.000.000 points!!! *

• Posted on March 11th 2011 by BoT
• Source: Bloomberg

Japan was struck by its strongest earthquake on record, an 8.9-magnitude temblor that shook buildings across Tokyo and unleashed a seven-meter-high tsunami that killed hundreds as it engulfed towns on the northern coast.

provided by Bloomberg / NHK

As many as 300 people were killed, a Japanese police official said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with department policy. Many are missing after the quake and waves as high as 23 feet swept ashore, according to state broadcaster NHK, which showed footage of flood waters sweeping away buildings and vehicles. Airports were closed and bullet train services suspended, and an emergency evacuation order was issued for a nuclear power plant north of Tokyo.

provided by Bloomberg / NHK

“Major damage occurred in the Tohoku area” north of Tokyo, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said in a nationally televised address after convening an emergency response team. “I call on citizens to act calmly.”

The Philippines, Indonesia and Chile were among more than 20 countries told to brace for a possible tsunami, after the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center raised an alert.

provided by Bloomberg / NHK

Tsunami waves began reaching the western U.S. coast this morning as communities from southern Oregon to Los Angeles braced for swells and rough seas as a result of the earthquake.

MIAHALLEN as well as other friends and members of many computer enthusiast forums are located in Japan.

• Posted on March 8th 2011 by BoT
• Source: AnandTech

AMD 6990 provided by AnandTech

"The AMD Radeon HD 6990, otherwise known as Antilles, is a card we have been expecting for some time now. In what’s become a normal AMD fashion, when they first introduced the Radeon HD 6800 series back in October, they also provided a rough timeline for the rest of the high-end members of the family. Barts would be followed by Cayman (6950/6970), which would be followed by the dual-GPU Antilles (6990)."

AMD 6990 provided by AnandTech

"Today AMD is launching their new flagship card, retiring the now venerable 5970 and replacing it with a new dual-GPU monster powered by AMD’s recently introduced VLIW4 design. Manufactured on the same 40nm process as the GPUs in the 5970, AMD has had to go to some interesting lengths to improve performance here. And as we’ll see, it’s going to be a doozy in more ways than one."

• Posted on March 3rd 2011 by BoT
• Source: Codisha Reviews

We are very excited to have the latest product from SunbeamTech in the house. We have had the company in the corner of our eyes for a good while. SunbeamTech has been in business since 2000 and has been just shy of being an enthusiast household name. The name really started sinking in when SunbeamTech spun off with the Tuniq line of CPU coolers. The Tuniq line quickly took the CPU cooling crown and held for quiet some time.

SunbeamTech recently released the Twister 120 which is the cooler we will be reviewing today. The Twister 120 is SunbeamTech's next shot at the cooling crown. SunbeamTech was never shy to be innovative in their designs and approach to technology.

• Posted on February 28th 2011 by BoT
• Source: Intel Newsroom

McAfee will continue developing and selling security products and services under its own brand. Intel and McAfee plan to bring the first fruits of their strategic partnership to market later this year, with the intent of tackling security and the pervasive nature of computing threats in an entirely new way.

Intel and McAfee believe today's approach to security does not adequately address the billions of new Internet-ready devices, including PCs, mobile and wireless devices, TVs, cars, medical devices and ATM machines. With the surge in cyber threats, providing protection to a diverse online world requires a fundamentally new approach involving software, hardware and services. Together the two companies will work to help people more securely take full advantage of the potential of computing and connectivity.

As a wholly-owned subsidiary of Intel, McAfee reports into Intel's Software and Services Group. The group is managed by Renée James, Intel senior vice president, and general manager. McAfee's president, Dave DeWalt, will report to James.

• Posted on February 18th 2011 by BoT
• Source: DailyTech

Intel Corp.'s chief executive Paul Otellini has been tapped by U.S. President Barack Obama to be a member of the President's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. General Electric chief executive Jeffrey Immelt chairs the panel. Its goal is to put Americans back to work, post recession and to promote skilled and professional jobs.

The White House says that it will name more board members in coming weeks. President Obama, following the severe recession of 2008 and 2009, first created the board in 2009.

• Posted on February 10th 2011 by BoT
• Source: Codisha Reviews

Arctic Cooling send over the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2. We will be taking a look at it and see how well it will do. This cooler is a bit different from what we have had so far on our test bench. The cooler has a fan attached and the fan is not meant to be exchanged with any aftermarket fan. This isolates and limits our testing ability but nevertheless we will try to give you best overview and test results obtainable from this cooler.

The "Freezer" line from Arctic Cooling is known to be one of the better entry level aftermarket cooling solutions and an affordable one as well. We will see exactly how far this will take your cooling and if it still is a feasible option.

The majority of high-end coolers are settled and equipped with one 120mm fan. Some manufacturers decided to add a 2nd fan to further enhance cooling ability and the newest trend is increasing the size of the cooler and the fan to 140mm. The Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2 is equipped with a single 92mm fan. This puts this cooler at a disadvantage a bit.

I am glad to see that Arctic Cooling is recognizing that good thermal compound is important in order for the cooling performance to directly translate into heat removed. After all, Arctic Cooling is the manufacturer of one of best Thermal compounds out today which is now available in it's 4th version. Arctic Cooling decided to equip the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2 with Arctic MX-2.

• Posted on January 31st 2011 by BoT
• Source: Business Wire

"As part of ongoing quality assurance, Intel Corporation has discovered a design issue in a recently released support chip, the Intel® 6 Series, code-named Cougar Point, and has implemented a silicon fix. In some cases, the Serial-ATA (SATA) ports within the chipsets may degrade over time, potentially impacting the performance or functionality of SATA-linked devices such as hard disk drives and DVD-drives. The chipset is utilized in PCs with Intel’s latest Second Generation Intel Core processors, code-named Sandy Bridge. Intel has stopped shipment of the affected support chip from its factories. Intel has corrected the design issue, and has begun manufacturing a new version of the support chip which will resolve the issue. The Sandy Bridge microprocessor is unaffected and no other products are affected by this issue."

"The company expects to begin delivering the updated version of the chipset to customers in late February and expects full volume recovery in April. Intel stands behind its products and is committed to product quality. For computer makers and other Intel customers that have bought potentially affected chipsets or systems, Intel will work with its OEM partners to accept the return of the affected chipsets, and plans to support modifications or replacements needed on motherboards or systems. The systems with the affected support chips have only been shipping since January 9th and the company believes that relatively few consumers are impacted by this issue. The only systems sold to an end customer potentially impacted are Second Generation Core i5 and Core i7 quad core based systems. Intel believes that consumers can continue to use their systems with confidence, while working with their computer manufacturer for a permanent solution. For further information consumers should contact Intel at www.intel.com on the support page or contact their OEM manufacturer."

• Posted on January 27th 2011 by BoT
• Source: FabTech

"Chang took time in his prepared remarks to cover the sensitive issue of a transition the larger wafer size. I want to say a few words about the 450-millimeter wafer manufacturing. Our first 450-millimeter pilot line is planned at our Fab12 Phase VI, starting with 20-nanometer technology. The timing of pilot line will be around 2013, 2014. Our first 450-millimeter production line is planned in around 2015, 2016. If TSMC is doing it then Intel and Samsung are too. The group had formed a little alliance to collectively pummel equipment suppliers into submission or something like it."

• Posted on January 20th 2011 by BoT
• Source: Codisha Reviews

Continuing in Noctua's line-up, we follow up with the Noctua NH-U12P SE2.

The Noctua NH-U12P SE2 is as well a highly developed CPU cooler from the house Noctua. It still represents the premium of the Noctua CPU cooler line-up. The Noctua NH-U12P SE2 CPU was considered a high-end CPU cooler when it was first released almost 3 years ago. It has been overtaken by the Noctua NH-D14 since then. Noctua invested a good amount of R&D in the design and the development of the thermal characteristics and technologies used in the Noctua NH-U12P SE2 CPU cooler.

• Posted on January 19th 2011 by BoT
• Source: The WHATWG Blog

"In 2009 we announced that the HTML5 specification at the WHATWG was progressing to Last Call. The plan at the time was to finish the specification this year and publish a snapshot of "HTML5" in 2012. However, shortly after that we realized that the demand for new features in HTML remained high, and so we would have to continue maintaining HTML and adding features to it before we could call "HTML5" complete, and as a result we moved to a new development model, where the technology is not versioned and instead we just have a living document that defines the technology as it evolves.

As there is still interest in publishing a snapshot of HTML5, the W3C is still working on that (in conjunction with the WHATWG)."

I will have a little Blog discussion about this. Stay tuned and let me know your thoughts on the matter.

What happens if an organization that is supposed to establish and maintain a standard throws that standard out the window and says "have at it, nobody listens anyway" or "Technology is just moving too fast, we can't keep up"?

• Posted on January 19th 2011 by BoT
• Source: ComputerBase.de

provided by ComputerBase

"Already since the beginning of October, rumors were circulating about the first "Sandy Bridge" processors for small servers. There are very interesting models in prospective Xeon CPUs line-up, such as the models with a TDP of 20 watts or the first processors based on the "Sandy Bridge" architecture without graphics core. As already suspected, the Xeon models will be very close to the old desktop oriented offshoots. A suspected Release Date is set to the 20th February. On that date shall also be the missing variants appear on the desktop, including all models with two cores ."

• Posted on January 13th 2011 by BoT
• Source: DailyTech

"In a surprising move, Google has abandoned support for the h.264 video codec, used (among other codecs) to power HTML5 video in its Chrome browser."

"The move is extremely significant as it leaves Microsoft Internet Explorer 9 (test builds) and Apple's Safari 5 as the only browsers on the market that support the codec."

"The debate over what codec should be used for HTML5 web video has been a contentious one and a partisan debate among browser makers who ultimately have to make the choice for their customers."

"The group that licenses h.264, which Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs notably holds stock in, recently came out promising not to charge consumers or web developers to use its video standard for free web video. It does still plan to charge for paid video or internal websites. Advocates, though, argue that h.264 offers the best video quality."

"Critics oppose the fact that h.264 is proprietary and not always free. They tend to support either Ogg Theora or WebM."

• Posted on January 12th 2011 by BoT
• Source: DailyTech

"OCZ Technology, once primarily known for its DRAM/memory products, has in recent years expanded its product portfolio to include cooling products and power supplies. Another product category that has seen large gains for the company has been the SSD market."

"OCZ Technology saw a 325 percent increase in revenues from its SSD business for fiscal Q3 2011 versus the previous year. Q3 2011 SSD revenues were also up 105 percent compared to Q2 2011."

"Thanks to the strong performance of its SSD portfolio, and the overall weakness in the global DRAM market, OCZ is accelerating its plans to exit the DRAM market."

• Posted on January 12th 2011 by BoT
• Source: Codisha Folding@Home

* The Codisha Folding@Home Team hits 7.000.000 points!!! *

• Posted on January 3rd 2011 by BoT
• Source: AnandTech

Intel Sandy Bridge Architecture - provided by AnandTech

"Today, Intel quietly finishes what it started nearly a decade ago. When running a single threaded application, the Core i7-2600K will power gate three of its four cores and turbo the fourth core as high as 3.8GHz. Even with two cores active, the 32nm chip can run them both up to 3.7GHz. The only thing keeping us from 4GHz is a lack of competition to be honest. Relying on single-click motherboard auto-overclocking alone, the 2600K is easily at 4.4GHz. For those of you who want more, 4.6-4.8GHz is within reason. All on air, without any exotic cooling."

• Posted on January 3rd 2011 by BoT
• Source: AnandTech

Intel Mobil Sandy Bridge Retail Chart - provided by AnandTech

"For starters, most of the mobile SNB chips are getting the full 12EU graphics core, rather than a trimmed down 6EU variant. Toss in all of the improved power management features and what we end up with is a fast-when-needed, power-friendly, and efficient chip. We’ll get to the benchmarks in a moment, but let’s start with a recap of the mobile Sandy Bridge lineup."

"Worth noting is that availability of the quad-core processors should start this week, but the dual-core and LV/ULV parts won’t show up for a few more weeks. The quad-core parts will also use a different BGA package than the dual-core parts."

• Posted on January 1st 2011 by BoT
• Source: Codisha

We wish everybody a very happy New Years. We hope you were save and had plenty of fun and joy.