HD Transfer of Star Trek: TNG To Arrive This Year

psychonaut writes “Digital Bits have confirmed through sources at CBS Paramount that CBS are working on a high-definition transfer of Star Trek: The Next Generation. A four-episode Blu-Ray sampler disc is to be released later this year; the episodes featured will be the two-part pilot ‘Encounter at Farpoint,’ ‘Sins of the Father,’ and fan favourite ‘The Inner Light.’ On 2 September, LeVar Burton tweeted that he had stopped by CBS Paramount Television City to check the progress and was ‘mindblown’ by the conversion. TrekCore has an article with further details and an analysis of some of the technical hurdles involved in remastering these episodes.”

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HD Transfer of Star Trek: TNG To Arrive This Year

Amazon To Launch Digital Book Rental Service

First time accepted submitter ni5dotcom writes “Amazon is soon going to launch an e-book rental service soon for US customers, according to The Wall Street Journal. Publishers, however, have shown mixed reaction to this decision so far. From the article: 'Amazon is believed to have offered book publishers a large fee for joining the service. However, the negotiations are said to still be in their early stages. The Seattle-based technology company, which is expected to imminently launch a tablet device to rival Apple’s iPad, has also said that the digital ebook library would feature older titles and be accessible to those who pay for $79 a year for Amazon Prime, the service which allows people unlimited two-day shipping and films and TV shows on demand.'”

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Amazon To Launch Digital Book Rental Service

AMD Breaks Overclocking Record With Bulldozer

MojoKid writes “AMD recently held a press event at their Austin headquarters, offering hands on time with the company’s upcoming Bulldozer-based FX-line of processors. Many of the details disclosed are still under NDA embargo, but AMD is allowing a sneak peek today to go along with a claimed Guinness World Record announcement. A team of overclocking enthusiasts and AMD engineers had a sampling of early AMD FX processors running at around 5GHz with high-end air and water-cooling, in the 6GHz range with phase-change cooling, and well over 8GHz on liquid-nitrogen and liquid-helium setups. Voltages of over 1.9v were used as well for some of the more extreme tests. The team had access to dozens of early FX processors and methodically worked through a batch of chips until ultimately hitting a peak of 8.429GHz using liquid-helium, breaking the previous world record of 8.309GHz for modern processor frequency.” Update: 09/13 13:54 GMT by T : Adds user Vigile: PC Perspective was there and took some photos and video of the event.

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AMD Breaks Overclocking Record With Bulldozer

Broadband data ad from 1963

Phil Are Go! has unearthed this 1963 advertisement for “broadband” data services from Western Union: “So, by 1963, business guys who were rich enough to have those little egg cups could transmit pictures, charts, stock data and stuff over the phone lines. Who knew? Well, the internet knew. It’s just jarring to see the word “broadband” appearing in print as early as the sixties. I tried to find some numbers on what qualified as broadband back then, but couldn’t find anything. Shazbot.”

I don’t know what 1963 considered “broadband” either, but I’m guessing 300 baud?

Western Union – Broadband 1963 style.


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Broadband data ad from 1963

Intel reveals January 2012 Gingerbread arrival for the Atom E6xx (video)

Intel wants a piece of the smartphone market — bad. The company has made no bones about its attempts to break into that booming space. Despite big talk, however, it hasn’t really given smartphone manufacturers something they can work with. A new promotional video for its pint-sized Atom E6xx series, however, reveals that chipmaker may be taking a step in the right direction, highlighting a January 2012 date for bringing Android 2.3 to the processor. Keep in mind, of course, that this isn’t a smartphone chip that we’re talking about here — the primary applications as outlined by Intel are retail, fitness equipment, digital signage and in-vehicle systems. Still, perhaps it marks a next step in the company’s push toward your mobile devices, or moreover, a shift for Android into more non-mobile things.

Continue reading Intel reveals January 2012 Gingerbread arrival for the Atom E6xx (video)

Intel reveals January 2012 Gingerbread arrival for the Atom E6xx (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Sep 2011 14:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Amazing Underground Cities

We’ve all heard of underground societies, but rarely is the term used in such a literal manner as these amazing underground cities featured on Dornob.

Cities, empires and religions have risen and fallen around these unique underground havens once used by early Christians to hide from Roman armies, yet they remains occupied to this day – 100 square miles with 200+ underground villages and tunnel towns complete with hidden passages, secret rooms and ancient temples and a remarkably storied history of each new civilization building on the work of the last.

Read more about these amazing homes and enjoy the stunning pictures at the link.

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Amazing Underground Cities

Ford / Bug Labs partnership makes SYNC look like old news

It’s a big day for the forward-thinking folks at Ford. Over in Frankfurt, the American auto giant showcased electric bike and cloud car concepts, and several timezones away at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco, the company talked up its new partnership with Bug Labs. The result is OpenXC, a platform that promises to deliver increased integration for third-party software and hardware, like new audio interfaces, safety products and environmental sensors, plugged into Bugs’ hardware and software modules. According to Ford, OpenXC makes developing for Ford vehicles far simpler than before, while lowering the cost and installation difficulty for car owners interested in adding on to their vehicles. More info in the press release after the break.

Continue reading Ford / Bug Labs partnership makes SYNC look like old news

Ford / Bug Labs partnership makes SYNC look like old news originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Sep 2011 18:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When China Takes Over the World …

It’s probably just a matter of time before China becomes the largest
economy in the world. When it does claim the top spot, what sort of dragon
will it be? Will China be a benign hegemon?

The Economist pontificates:

If China does usurp America, what kind of hegemon will it be? Some
argue that it will be a “premature” superpower. Because
it will be big before it is rich, it will dwell on its domestic needs
to the neglect of its global duties. If so, the world may resemble the
headless global economy of the inter-war years, when Britain was unable,
and America unwilling, to lead. But Mr Subramanian prefers to describe
China as a precocious superpower. It will not be among the richest economies,
but it will not be poor either. Its standard of living will be about
half America’s in 2030, and a little higher than the European
Union’s today.

With luck China will combine its precocity in economic development
with a plodding conservatism in economic diplomacy. It should remain
committed to preserving an open world economy. Indeed, its commitment
may run deeper than America’s, because its ratio of trade to GDP
is far higher.

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When China Takes Over the World …