Author: kenmay

Google-Backed SSD Endurance Research Shows MLC Flash As Reliable As SLC

MojoKid writes: Even for mainstream users, it’s easy to feel the differences between using a PC that has an OS installed on a solid state drive versus a mechanical hard drive. Also, with SSD pricing where it is right now, it’s also easy to justify including one in a new configuration for the speed boost. And there’s obvious benefit in the enterprise and data center for both performance and durability. As you might expect, Google has chewed through a healthy pile of SSDs in its data centers over the years and the company appears to have been one of the first to deploy SSDs in production at scale. New research results Google is sharing via a joint research project now encompasses SSD use over a six year span at one of Google’s data centers. Looking over the results led to some expected and unexpected findings. One of the biggest discoveries is that SLC-based SSDs are not necessarily more reliable than MLC-based drives. This is surprising, as SLC SSDs carry a price premium with the promise of higher durability (specifically in write operations) as one of their selling points. It will come as no surprise that there are trade-offs of both SSDs and mechanical drives, but ultimately, the benefits SSDs offer often far outweigh the benefits of mechanical HDDs. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Google-Backed SSD Endurance Research Shows MLC Flash As Reliable As SLC

Scientists Achieve Perfect Efficiency For Water-Splitting Half-Reaction

Dthief writes: Splitting water is a two-step process, and in a new study, researchers have performed one of these steps (reduction) with 100% efficiency. The results shatter the previous record of 60% for hydrogen production with visible light, and emphasize that future research should focus on the other step (oxidation) in order to realize practical overall water splitting. The main application of splitting water into its components of oxygen and hydrogen is that the hydrogen can then be used to deliver energy to fuel cells for powering vehicles and electronic devices. The process involves exposing the water to a mass of platinum-tipped nanorods, with visible light driving the reaction. The 100% efficiency refers to the photon-to-hydrogen conversion efficiency, and it means that virtually all of the photons that reach the photocatalyst generate an electron, and every two electrons produce one H2 molecule. At 100% yield, the half-reaction produces about 100 H2 molecules per second (or one every 10 milliseconds) on each nanorod, and a typical sample contains about 600 trillion nanorods. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Scientists Achieve Perfect Efficiency For Water-Splitting Half-Reaction

As of Tonight, 1900 Steam Games For Linux

New submitter KGIII writes: “After a recent Steam change, there were more than 1, 900 Steam Linux games listed as Valve ended up including yet-to-be-released Linux game ports. That total including unreleased Linux games is now up to 2, 009! But in terms of released Linux game titles available for download right now, the 1, 900 threshold was crossed tonight to end out February.” It’s getting there. All of you gamers might just be able to make the choice to move to Linux soon. It looks like there are quite a few more games coming down the pipe. This is a good thing as it gives gamers more options for their operating system. I imagine this bodes well for the SteamOS project and for the dedicated SteamOS devices. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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As of Tonight, 1900 Steam Games For Linux

One Animal in Zootopia Has More Individual Hairs Than Every Character in Frozen Combined

Computer animation evolves at an alarming rate. One year, a movie like Frozen or Big Hero 6 looks like the peak of what’s possible. Then, only a year later, the next thing goes way beyond that. In this case, the next thing is Zootopia , and in this movie a single giraffe has more individual hairs on it—nine million—than every single character in either Frozen, Big Hero 6, or Wreck-It Ralph . Read more…

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One Animal in Zootopia Has More Individual Hairs Than Every Character in Frozen Combined

CompuLab Rolls out Fanless, High-End PCs With Unique Design

An anonymous reader writes: Israeli PC maker CompuLab has begun shipping the Airtop PC that allows assembling high-end PC components into a completely fanless design. Phoronix’s initial testing of the Airtop PC showed that it has a Core i7 5775C Broadwell processor, 16GB of RAM, 256GB SSD, and GeForce GTX 950 all while being fan-less thanks to the innovative design. The early results are quite positive for this uniquely designed PC but it comes at a cost premium of a fully-loaded system costing more than $2, 200 USD. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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CompuLab Rolls out Fanless, High-End PCs With Unique Design

New York Judge Rules US Can’t Force Apple to Help Unlock an iPhone 

On the eve of a Congressional hearing about the Department of Justice’s fight with Apple over a locked iPhone, a Brooklyn judge has ruled that the DOJ cannot force Apple to assist in unlocking an iPhone in a separate New York drug case . Read more…

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New York Judge Rules US Can’t Force Apple to Help Unlock an iPhone 

Giant Viruses Feature Their Own Built-In Antivirus Software 

Mimiviruses are viruses so big they can actually be seen with the naked eye. European scientists have now learned that these bizarre organisms have their own immune system that makes them virtually invulnerable to predatory viruses, suggesting these creatures may actually represent a new branch in the tree of life. Read more…

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Giant Viruses Feature Their Own Built-In Antivirus Software 

This 520 Million-Year-Old Fossil Is So Intricate You Can See Individual Nerves

A team of scientists has discovered a fossil with what may be the the oldest and most well-preserved example of a central nervous system ever found. Uncovered in southern China, the specimen goes by the name of Chengjiangocaris kunmingensis and clocks in at roughly 520 million years old. Read more…

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This 520 Million-Year-Old Fossil Is So Intricate You Can See Individual Nerves

Largely undetected Mac malware suggests disgraced HackingTeam has returned

Enlarge (credit: Patrick Wardle ) Researchers have uncovered what appears to be newly developed Mac malware from HackingTeam, a discovery that’s prompting speculation that the disgraced malware-as-a-service provider has reemerged since last July’s hack that spilled gigabytes worth of the group’s private e-mail and source code . The sample was uploaded on February 4 to the Google-owned VirusTotal scanning service , which at the time showed it wasn’t detected by any of the major antivirus programs. (Ahead of this report on Monday, it was detected by 10 of 56 AV services.) A technical analysis published Monday morning by SentinelOne security researcher Pedro Vilaça showed that the installer was last updated in October or November, and an embedded encryption key is dated October 16, three months after the HackingTeam compromise. The sample installs a copy of HackingTeam’s signature Remote Code Systems compromise platform, leading Vilaça to conclude that the outfit’s comeback mostly relies on old, largely unexceptional source code, despite the group vowing in July that it would return with new code. Read 4 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Largely undetected Mac malware suggests disgraced HackingTeam has returned