Tech Today w/ Ken May

Well, it’s a bit past the end of March, but Intel has now finally gotten official with its new Atom Z670 processor for tablets, which you might know better by its Oak Trail codename. Built using a 45nm manufacturing process, the Z670 runs at 1.5GHz and promises to support 1080p video with the aid of Intel’s GMA 600 integrated graphics, while also keeping power consumption to a minimum and allowing for smaller, thinner, and fanless devices. As we’ve seen, there’s also plenty of manufacturers already lined up to release devices based on the processor, and Intel says we can expect to see over 35 “innovative tablet and hybrid designs” from the likes of Fujitsu, Lenovo, Razer and Viliv over the course of 2011. What’s more, Intel also took the opportunity to tease its next generation 32nm Cedar Trail platform that it will be showing off at its Developer Forum in Beijing, saying that it will enable a “new wave of fanless, cool and quiet, sleek and innovative netbooks, entry-level desktops and all-in-one designs.” Full press release is after the break.

Continue reading Intel rolls out Atom Z670 Oak Trail processor for tablets

Intel rolls out Atom Z670 Oak Trail processor for tablets originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Apr 2011 14:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Last night an epic storm blew through Wisconsin. According to Menasha resident Jon Baas, hundreds of nonstop lightning flashes lit up the sky for an hour. Wisconsinites also contended with with high winds, rain, and hailstones the size of baseballs. More

Late to—but not quite out of—the app store game, Microsoft has a challenger after all: images have surfaced of the Windows 8 App Store, the company's challenger to Apple's Mac app emporium. More

Filed under: Etc., Government/Legal, Safety

They say everything is bigger in Texas, and now it seems everything might be faster too. The House of Representatives in Texas has approved a new transportation bill, and it includes legislation that would allow the Texas Department of Transportation to raise speed limits to 85 miles per hour. The state’s Senate is presently considering a similar measure.

The DOT cannot simply go out and slap up a fresh new set of 85-mph speed limit signs. Both engineering and traffic studies must be done before motorists are given a green light to those increased speeds. Don’t feel too bad for those speed-restricted Texans, though. 85 mph wouldn’t be much of a stretch for Texas, since the state already enjoys 520 miles of highway with an 80-mph speed limit.

[Source: Chron.com | Image: University of Michigan]

Texas House approves nation’s fastest speed limit at 85 mph originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 07 Apr 2011 13:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Remedy has been hard at work on some supposedly impressive facial animation technology for an upcoming project. According to Edge, the Helsinki studio is confident it can come closer to crossing the “uncanny valley” effect than others have done before.

The technology created by John Root — who was a lead animator at Midway, Epic Games, and id Software before moving to Remedy — builds upon motion capture by using it as a starting point for generating up to 0.5mm accurate scans of actors, a similar approach to how facial animation was done for Alan Wake. Root claims that from 64 facial poses, every human expression can be derived.

With those tools in hand animators can then easily edit facial expressions in real time, rather than having to rely on the actor’s performance capture. A future color mapping component is said to yet be included in the tech, which will simulate subdermal blood flow and adjusts the skin’s color when facial skin folds with expressions.

Speaking to Edge, Remedy CEO Matias “Mulla stondaa Alan Wake” Myllyrinne said that while L.A. Noire has set the bar for facial animation, Remedy is aiming to raise the bar even further. Can’t wait to see that tech implemented in CG hentai.

Remedy Claims New Tech Raises The Bar For Facial Animation [Edge][Image via Eurogamer]

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Remedy aims to surpass L.A. Noire's facial animation

Chubby DIY iPad cases aside, there aren’t too many options if you want to bring video wirelessly from a mobile device to a wall-mountable TV. The Moov from Olion is one of the few, but sadly it doesn’t really exist just yet. Don’t be thrown off by a name shared with a windshield-mounted GPS, this is a battery-packing case for iPhones. Slot one in and you get instant, wireless streaming of data to a WHDI-compatible receiver. Video resolution is fair at 1,024 x 768 while latency is said to be less than 1ms at up to 30-feet in range. That’s quick enough to get your Need for Speed on, as shown after the break, while the internal battery is said to provide enough juice for three hours of video streaming. Olion doesn’t have a shipment date or price in mind right now, still searching for partners of the manufacturing kind. If you have the requisite means of production maybe this could be a match made in silicon — and in love.

[Thanks, Aviram]

Continue reading Olion’s Moov caught on video beaming an iPhone to a TV using a little WHDI and a lot of magic

Olion’s Moov caught on video beaming an iPhone to a TV using a little WHDI and a lot of magic originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Apr 2011 11:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hacker George “Geohot” Hotz, the man who Sony accused of cracking the PlayStation 3 security, has settled with Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA). According to a statement issued by SCEA, Hotz has “consented to a permanent injunction” against the information published by Hotz. More

Put a powerful magnet against the side of your head and it can interfere with the neurons working underneath. The technique is being used to treat severe depression, but it can also produce some nifty party tricks. In this video, a magnet held to left side of New Scientist editor Roger Highfield’s skull interrupts his ability to speak a nursery rhyme. But when Highfield sings the same rhyme, there’s no effect. That’s because the neurons that control speech and the neurons that control singing are in separate parts of the brain. The magnet disabled Highfield’s speech centers, but left his ability to sing untouched.

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How magnets affect the human brain

As recently as a year ago, Windows XP was the kingpin of PCs in the US with 43.1 percent market share. But that’s rapidly changing. StatCounter shows that while Mac OS X is creeping up slightly and Windows Vista continues its death march, Windows 7 is on the rise, steadily closing the gap with trusty ole’ XP. Last month, XP’s share sank to 32.17 percent, while Windows 7’s edged up to 30.84 percent, leaving the latter poised to overtake XP — something the much-maligned Vista never did. And if early numbers are to be believed, it’s already happened: StatCounter says that for the first week in April Windows 7’s share (among desktops, at least) totaled 31.71 percent, compared with XP’s 31.56. Either way, it seems Microsoft has convinced consumers that it’s finally safe to upgrade.

Windows 7 closes gap with XP, is poised to steal top market share this month originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Apr 2011 11:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Intel’s inability to crack the mobile market has been a growing blemish on their record, an increasingly sore spot that’s seen the processor giant sit out the biggest new product category since the laptop. Sure, there have been tablets with Intel inside, but they’ve been solidly second-rate battery suckers. So how will intel catch up? By throwing Moore’s law out the window, and upgrading its Atom processor at unprecedented speeds. More