Tag: events

Intel Develops Linux ‘Software GPU’ That’s ~29-51x Faster

An anonymous reader writes: Intel is open-sourcing their work on creating a high-performance graphics software rasterizer that originally was developed for scientific visualizations. Intel is planning to integrate this new OpenSWR project with Mesa to deploy it on the Linux desktop as a faster software rasterizer than what’s currently available (LLVMpipe). OpenSWR should be ideal for cases where there isn’t a discrete GPU available or the drivers fail to function. This software rasterizer implements OpenGL 3.2 on Intel/AMD CPUs supporting AVX(2) (Sandy Bridge / Bulldozer and newer) while being 29~51x faster than LLVMpipe and the code is MIT licensed. The code prior to being integrated in Mesa is offered on GitHub. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Intel Develops Linux ‘Software GPU’ That’s ~29-51x Faster

Voyo Connects Your Car To The Cloud

 Now that connected car startups are now thick on the ground, it takes a special amount of pizzaz to stand out. Thankfully Voyo has amped up the jazz hands and is producing a small device that can truly change the way we drive. What does this little dongle do? It can interface with your car’s computer system via the OBD-II as well as via your relay panel. By connecting these two port… Read More

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Voyo Connects Your Car To The Cloud

Rod Logic Computers and Why We Don’t Already Have Them

szczys writes: Carbon Nanotubes and Graphene breakthroughs pop up in the news often enough for them to be considered buzzwords. Most of the time it’s the superconducting properties of graphene that are touted, but molecule-scale structures also hold the promise of building mechanical computing devices that are unimaginably small. The reason we don’t have these things yet comes down to the manufacturing process. Building machines out of carbon molecules is commonly called Rod Logic — a topic many know from the seminal novel The Diamond Age. Al Williams discusses how Rod Logic works and highlights some of the places we’re already seeing these materials like to help cool LED light bulbs, and to strengthen composites. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Rod Logic Computers and Why We Don’t Already Have Them

Waze’s maps and traffic app gets a cleaner and smarter design

Waze is one of the most popular maps and traffic apps on iOS and Android. For good reason, too: It’s fast, intuitive and, often times, more accurate than the highly rated Google Maps. Today, Waze’s making its mobile application even better, thanks to an overhaul designed to offer a cleaner, prettier user interface and quicker access to useful actions. With a single tap, you can now send directions, location or estimated time of arrival to your contacts. You can also get traffic-based reminders, making it easier to get to any destination on time — as long as your calendar is synced with Waze. Last but not least, this new version of the app “significantly” reduces battery consumption, according to the company; if true, that’ll definitely be appreciated by users who rely on the app for their daily commutes or casual trips. The 4.0 update is already available for iOS , while Android’s expected to get it ” soon .” [Image credits: AFP/Getty Images] Source: Waze

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Waze’s maps and traffic app gets a cleaner and smarter design

Lenovo’s flagship Yoga 900 laptop is an improvement in every way that matters

The Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro was one of our favorite laptops of 2014, but mostly for impractical reasons: At 2.62 pounds and half an inch thick, it was exceptionally thin and light, even for an ultraportable, but it suffered from relatively short battery life and performance that trailed some rivals. Fortunately, the company just announced a new flagship, the Yoga 900, and it appears to improve on its predecessor in every way that matters. For starters, it movies from one of Intel’s low-powered Core M chips to a sixth-gen Core i5 or i7 CPU. Between that and a new option for 16GB of RAM, the performance here should be faster than it was just a year ago. At the same time, Lenovo didn’t have to compromise much on weight: the Yoga 900 is just heftier, at 2.8 pounds and 14.9mm (0.59 inch) thick.Slideshow-330250 That addresses performance. As for battery life, Lenovo bumped up the battery capacity by about 50 percent, promising between eight and nine hours of runtime. Last year’s model lasted around seven and a half hours in our tests, so if the new model can indeed reach nine, that would be a marked improvement. Lenovo also increased the base storage from 128GB to 256GB, and plans to offer a 512GB on the highest-end configuration. This time, too, the Yoga starts with 8GB of RAM, going up to 16GB on the top-tier model. Additionally, Lenovo made a couple tweaks to the hardware, though this was admittedly one of the Yoga 3 Pro’s strong points in the first place. For one, Lenovo ditched last year’s five-row keyboard for a six-row setup, allowing the user to adjust things like brightness from the top row without holding down the Function key. Also, though the”Watchband” hinge in the back looks the same, Lenovo tightened it so that it feels sturdier when you’re flipping the 3, 200 x 1, 800 screen into different usage modes. Indeed, I noticed in my hands-on that the flex I complained about in my review was gone; no more creaking sound when you rotate the display back into tablet mode.Slideshow-330251 The Yoga 900 starts at $1, 200, and is available today at Best Buy and on Lenovo’s website. Colors include gold, silver and “clementine orange, ” and this time, the watchband hinge around back matches the rest of the chassis. Given that this is the direct replacement to one of our favorite laptops from last year, you can bet we intend to review this as soon as we’re able to get our hands on one. Until then, enjoy the hands-on photos.

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Lenovo’s flagship Yoga 900 laptop is an improvement in every way that matters

Xiaomi brings Segway to the masses with $315 Ninebot mini

We’d be throwing money at our screen right now, if we could. Chinese company Xiaomi has launched a small Segway device, the Ninebot mini , for a mere $315 (£203), on the same day it revealed a $790, 60-inch 4K TV . If you’ll recall, Xiaomi is a major investor in Ninebot, the China-based company that recently purchased Segway . This is the first device the companies have launched since the acquisition, and while the self-balancing scooter looks a bit like the original , it costs less than a twentieth the price. The performance is nothing to sneeze at, though — it can move at up to 16km/h (10 mph), tackle 15 degree hills and run up to 22 km on a single charge. It’s portable at 12.8 kilograms (28 pounds) and “fits easily in the trunk of your car, ” according to Xiaomi. You can also upgrade the firmware and monitor your speed, traffic data and systems via a smartphone. Sure, Xiaomi’s marketing the Ninebot mini as a “cool youth toy, ” according to the rough translation — but it looks like it could get you around nicely, too. You’ll have to put your checkbook away for now, though. The self-balancing device is coming to China on November 3rd, but there’s no word on Xiaomi’s plan for a wider launch. That said, Ninebot has updated its French website with an offer to be “informed of the availability.” That means it’ll likely be sold in Europe, so it may come to the US after all. We’ve reached out to Xiaomi for more information. Via: Engadget Chinese Source: Xiaomi (translated)

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Xiaomi brings Segway to the masses with $315 Ninebot mini

Amazon’s grocery service now requires a $299 yearly membership

Amazon warned late last year that it would eventually require a $299 yearly membership just to use its AmazonFresh grocery delivery service. And like or not, the internet giant is making good on its word: shoppers in New York City, Philadelphia and Seattle (and possibly other cities) are finding out that they need that pricey Prime Fresh subscription before they can go food shopping. The outlay gives you free delivery on all orders over $50, on top of the benefits of a regular Amazon Prime membership, but it’s now considerably more expensive if you only occasionally want groceries shipped to your door. So far, tests that would open the door to standard Prime members (who’d always pay delivery fees) haven’t led to anything concrete. The pricing doesn’t stack up well next to rivals like Instacart, which both costs less up front ($99 per year) and waives the delivery fees at a lower threshold ($35). However, it’s doubtful that Amazon will have a change of heart in the near future. The company is one of the old hands in the online grocery delivery business, and it had a long time to do the math — it’s likely convinced that an all-encompassing $299 plan is more sustainable than a groceries-only option. [Image credit: Andrew Hitchcock, Flickr ] Via: GeekWire Source: AmazonFresh

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Amazon’s grocery service now requires a $299 yearly membership

Dragonlock Lets You Print Your Own RPG Dungeons

 Your party enters a darkened room. Candles flicker in the gloom and something is glinting along the far wall. Your thief enters first. Her dwarvish blade begins to glow. Danger is nearby! What will you do? Will you 3D print a wall section and snap it to a floor section? Or will your move a 3D-printed Beholder into the room? What about a pillar or stairs? What about a little wooden door?… Read More

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Dragonlock Lets You Print Your Own RPG Dungeons

New iOS 9 Features Mean System-Wide Tor Is In the Works For the First Time

Patrick O’Neill writes: At a time when privacy and encryption on mobile devices are the subject of political storm, last month’s iOS 9 release means that Apple devices will finally get what Android has had for years: System-wide Tor anonymity. A handful of security experts recently set to work on projects to bring more powerful anonymity to iOS. “There are a bunch of pieces in the works, ” Tor developer and Guardian Project leader Nathan Freitas told the Daily Dot. “We just started to work on it and think about it. Tor knows we can’t ignore all the iOS 9 users in the world.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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New iOS 9 Features Mean System-Wide Tor Is In the Works For the First Time

China’s Flash Consumption Grows To 30%; 8TB SSDs Are Coming

Lucas123 writes: Seven of the world’s top 10 smartphone vendors hail from China as does PC giant Lenovo, which is driving up the amount of NAND flash and DRAM the country consumes. This year alone, China is expected to purchase nearly 30% of the world’s NAND flash and 21% of its DRAM, according to a report from TrendForce. Additionally, state-backed companies are trying to break into Western markets with SSDs. For example, Sage Microelectronics (SageMicro), a four-year-old company based in Hangzhou, China, plans to release an 8TB SSD next month that will be based on eMMC flash, and it said it will release a 10TB drive next year. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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China’s Flash Consumption Grows To 30%; 8TB SSDs Are Coming