Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Monday, August 04, 2008

Intel discusses ATI and Nvidia killing Larrabee, launching as early as 2009

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/355144727/

While Intel's Larrabee might not be a household name for consumers just yet, it's certainly at the table where Nvidia and AMD/ATI eat. The many-core (8 to 48, at least, according to that Intel graphic) x86 chip runs all your existing apps while tossing in support for OpenGL and DirectX thus eliminating the need for a discrete graphics chip. At least that's the plan. While the exact number of cores remains a secret as does the performance of each core compared to current GPUs, given the importance Intel places on Larrabee, it's reasonable to assume that an 8-core chip will launch in 2009 or 2010 with comparable performance to GPUs on the market at that time. Intel does say that Larrabee cores will scale "almost linearly" (read: within 10%) in games; that means that a 16-core chip will offer nearly twice the performance of an 8-core chip, 32-cores twice that of 16, and so on. Apparently this has already been proven in-house with Intel name-dropping Larrabee-coded titles such as Gears of War, FEAR, and Half-Life 2, Episode 2. It's no coincidence then to hear that Intel's first Larrabee product will target PC gamers. Click through if you're just dying to read about Larrabee's 1024 bits-wide bi-directional ring network and other bits of technical wonderment sure to create at least the hint of a silicon malaise.

[Via CNET and Washington Post, Thanks Dan R.]

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Aigo's Atom-packin' MID gets unboxed

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/355188692/

Filed under: Handhelds

Aigo's MID (more formally known as the MID P8860) just arrived in the anxious hands of UMPC Fever, and of course, it uploaded a number of photographs so we could all share in the joyous unboxing experience. Granted, you've already seen so many in the wild shots that you aren't apt to be surprised, but we're rather impressed with just how nicely everything was arranged inside of the subtle black box. We'd totally have to debadge it (is the Atom sticker really necessary... really?), but other than that it's not a half bad item to have residing in your rear pocket. More shots in the read link.

[Via Pocketables, thanks Jenn]

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VIA Nano whoops Intel's Atom (again) on video

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/355203149/

Filed under: Handhelds, Laptops

Do you cheer for the underdog? Would you love to see VIA unseat Intel in the battle for the hearts and minds of netbook market share just because Intel's, well, Intel? Good, then you'll love this highly emotive video produced by VIA showing its meager 1.3GHz Nano processor kicking Intel's 1.6GHz Atom to the curb in a 1080p HD video test. We'd be more suspect of the results had we not already seen VIA clean Intel's house in the head-to-head benchmarks. Now pull up a seat ringside and get ready to sputter along with the Atom-based netbook -- video after the break.

[Via UMPC Portal]

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Friday, August 01, 2008

WebToMail Delivers Any Web Page to Your Inbox [Web Browsing]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/350908025/webtomail-delivers-any-web-page-to-your-inbox

Web site WebToMail sends full web pages to your email on demand. Why? Let's say, for example, you're sitting behind a nasty internet filter at work that won't even let you access your friendly, productivity-enhancing Lifehacker. Just fire off an email to send@webtomail.co.cc with the URL of the web page you want in the subject (http://lifehacker.com). A few minutes later, you'll receive an email back from WebToMail with the contents of the URL you requested conveniently embedded in the email. The results vary depending on the email client you're using; in Gmail, you don't get nicely styled CSS, but you do in desktop apps like Thunderbird. Seems like a worthwhile utility to add to your IT lockdown toolbox.

WebToMail [via MakeUseOf]

VMware Fusion 2.0 Beta 2 Now Available [Beta Beat]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/351788753/vmware-fusion-20-beta-2-now-available

Mac OS X only: VMware releases a new beta of Fusion 2.0, the virtual machine software for Mac. We were impressed with our test drive of beta 1, and beta 2 adds a few more promising features, like: automatic virtual machine snapshots (for easy rollback in case something goes wrong), mirroring folders (like your Mac's Documents folder to Windows' My Documents folder), better keyboard and mouse mapping, and improved 3D graphics (happy news for gamers). The folder mirroring is a welcome addition to my virtual XP installation—no more constant browsing to a shared Mac folder. Take a look at how it works.

Screencast courtesy of VMware:

The Fusion 2.0 beta 2 has all-around improved Unity and its ability to use apps from either operating system in any context. For example, you can set Windows apps as the default file handler for documents on your Mac (and vice versa). (Adam showed you how to do this to some extent in Parallels last July.) Here's another upbeat screencast from VMware demonstrating:

Right now beta 2 is a free download for testers; Fusion 2.0 will be a free upgrade for 1.0 users with a ($79.99) license.

Fusion 2.0 Beta 2 [VMware via TechBlog]

Photoshop Express Becoming Better Web-Based Image Editor [Photoshop]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/351808413/photoshop-express-becoming-better-web+based-image-editor

Previously mentioned Photoshop Express offers more web-based image management and editing features, like drag and drop upload (via an Adobe AIR app), tags to organize your photos, and slideshows put to music (in addition to Flickr integration). [via]

DIY Wireless Network Printer [DIY]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/351983215/diy-wireless-network-printer

Handy do-it-yourselfer computerguru365 turned a network-capable laser printer into a wireless printer by mounting a small Wi-Fi router inside its case. This is a really cool mod: After installing a network card, he found space inside the printer to mount a small router (running the DD-WRT router firmware, no less), wired up and mounted LED lights, and tucked both the power and Ethernet cable hook-ups inside. This project's not for the timid, and not really necessary, as you can just set the router on top or near the printer—but the result looks really good. (Of course you'll get better bandwidth by keeping the antenna outside the printer.)

DIY computers and electronics: DIY Wireless Network Printer [DIY computers and electronics via]

Real Liquid Display Makes Mac OS X Aqua Look Like Crayolas [Water Display]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/351679361/real-liquid-display-makes-mac-os-x-aqua-look-like-crayolas

Giz reader Nicholas Buechi created this real liquid display that really doesn't display anything but bubbles. And that's enough, because it is mesmerizing enough as it is. The liquid display is driven by an Arduino processor, and the events are triggered by a water keyboard. Sounds crazy, but in action it looks very pretty and soothing:

Nicholas explains how it works:

It's based on an Arduino processor and a board I did myself. There are 16 valves controlled by transistors. The interface [where you put your fingers to trigger events] uses 3 Q-Prox QT110E chips. With them I measure the voltage in the water. If anyone touches the water, electrons flow to the person, which gives the system feedback.

The whole effect is quite relaxing and cool. I need this as a Mac OS X screensaver. Pronto. [The Liquid Display]