DirectX 11 comes to browser games

DirectX 11 comes to browser games | THINQ.co.uk

The phrase “browser game” usually conjures up images of simple Flash games, retro emulators or the infuriating onslaught of Facebook games. However, the humble browser could soon be bringing us full-on DirectX 11 PC gaming, via a new plug-in for Trinigy’s forthcoming Vision Engine 8.

Apple Says No to Good Ideas “Every Day”, Predicts Netbooks’ Demise

DailyTech – Apple Says No to Good Ideas “Every Day”, Predicts Netbooks’ Demise

“Well, we are the most focused company that I know of, or have read of, or have any knowledge of.” – Tim Cook

Mechanical devices stamped on plastic

Mechanical devices stamped on plastic

Microelectromechanical devices — tiny machines with moving parts — are everywhere these days: they monitor air pressure in car tires, register the gestures of video game players, and reflect light onto screens in movie theaters. But they’re manufactured the same way computer chips are, in facilities that can cost billions of dollars, and their rigidity makes them hard to wrap around curved surfaces.

MIT researchers have discovered a way to make microelectromechanical devices, or MEMS, by stamping them onto a plastic film. That should significantly reduce their cost, but it also opens up the possibility of large sheets of sensors that could, say, cover the wings of an airplane to gauge their structural integrity. The printed MEMS are also flexible, so they could be used to make sensors with irregular shapes. And since the stamping process dispenses with the harsh chemicals and high temperatures ordinarily required for the fabrication of MEMS, it could allow MEMS to incorporate a wider range of materials.

MSI Launches New Energy-Saving, Low-Noise, 2L Mini-PCs

MSI Launches New Energy-Saving, Low-Noise, 2L Mini-PCs

MSI, the global leading brand in All-in-One PC, today announced the launch of two new energy-saving, low-noise, entertainment-oriented models in MSI’s Wind Box mini-PC series: the Wind Box DE220 and Wind Box DC220. Using a 2L design, the Wind Box DE220 and DC220 have inherited the ultra-slim good looks of the earlier generation of A4-sized mini-PCs, but with the addition of improved energy-saving and noise reduction capabilities. The two mini-PCs use the latest Intel Pine Trail platform, which provides energy consumption around 90% lower than that of a conventional desktop PC. This, plus their outstanding noise reduction performance (under 24dB), makes them ideal for continuous use over long periods of time.

Happiness ain’t all it’s cracked up to be

Happiness ain’t all it’s cracked up to be – life – 26 February 2010 – New Scientist

Grumpiness or sadness, on the other hand, produces more vigilant, outward-looking thinkers. “A negative mood produces a thinking style that is more detailed and attentive, and pays more attention to the demands of the external environment,” says Forgas.

Innovation: Bloom didn’t start a fuel-cell revolution

Innovation: Bloom didn’t start a fuel-cell revolution – tech – 26 February 2010 – New Scientist

The world woke up to an energy revolution this week thanks to the Governator-backed launch of Bloom Energy, a firm based in Sunnyvale, California, whose fuel cells rapidly gained huge publicity and created much excitement.

But that revolution is not one coming just from the so-called “Bloom boxes”, which already have high-profile customers like eBay and Google.

It’s one already being put into action by a suite of less-celebrated and more established competitors to the new company. Indeed fuel cells much like Bloom’s are already set to be installed in thousands of homes this year.

Zoomdoggle’s Amazing BuckyBalls in action!

YouTube – Zoomdoggle’s Amazing BuckyBalls in action!

HDDs, The Next Generation: Drives With 4KB Sectors On The Way

Conclusion – Review Tom’s Hardware : HDDs, The Next Generation: Drives With 4KB Sectors On The Way

The new WD10EARS drive delivers higher performance than its predecessor, the WD10EADS, at similar power consumption and slightly increased efficiency. Although the drive doesn’t perform well enough to be a suitable system drive for performance desktops, it delivers more than enough performance for storage and archiving applications or low-power HTPC systems.

Cell-inspired electronics

Cell-inspired electronics

(PhysOrg.com) — A single cell in the human body is approximately 10,000 times more energy-efficient than any nanoscale digital transistor, the fundamental building block of electronic chips. In one second, a cell performs about 10 million energy-consuming chemical reactions, which altogether require about one picowatt (one millionth millionth of a watt) of power.

Is the Ares to succeed the Mars?

Is the Ares to succeed the Mars? – BeHardware

The Ares is reported to be based on two 5870s, at their original clocks and come with 2 GB of RAM per GPU, or 4 GB in total. As the 5970 is at the same clocks as the 5850, the Ares should be able to outdo it in terms of performance. It should therefore be almost 30% better in 3DMark Vantage, which would make the Ares the most powerful graphics card on the market.

In itself, the card is likely to be enormous with an extraordinary cooling system made up of a huge copper block of 8 heatpipes and a 100mm diameter fan! Energy consumption is also likely to beat records as it looks as if it will have to be powered by two 8 pin PCI-Express connectors and one 6 pin.

512 MB 40nm DDR3 from Samsung

512 MB 40nm DDR3 from Samsung – BeHardware

After having announced its 256 MB 40nm chips last July, Samsung are the first to announce mass production of a 512 MB 40nm DDR3 chip. The density of these chips allow for the production of 16 GB DDR3 bars for desktop, 32 GB for servers and 8 GB for laptops. Running at 1.35v and 1.5v, they allow a 35% economy of energy in comparison to the old 50nm solutions according to Samsung.

Metoda Google de a face ştiinţă

Metoda Google de a face ştiinţă

Peter Norvig, cercetător la Google, s-a mândrit odată spunând că „Nicio persoană din cele care au lucrat la traducătorul chinezesc nu vorbea chineza”. Nu a existat o teorie a limbii chineze, nicio înţelegere, doar date (dacă cineva se îndoia de „experimentul camerei chinezeşti” a lui John Searle, aici avem dovada).

Nanotech May Tap Into Your Mind

Nanotech May Tap Into Your Mind : Discovery News

Torimitsu is working on creating a nano-scaled implant comprising a nano-electrode coated with an artificial membrane that mimics the receptor proteins found on the surface of brain cells, such as glutamate and GABA receptors -involved in increasing and inhibiting brain activity.

A Reactor That Burns Depleted Fuel Emerges as a Potential ‘Game Changer’

A Reactor That Burns Depleted Fuel Emerges as a Potential ‘Game Changer’ – NYTimes.com

After years in a status closer to science fiction than reality, the traveling wave nuclear reactor is emerging as a potential “game changer,” according to a U.S. Department of Energy official. It helps that the reactor is the product of a team of top scientists backed by the deep pockets of Microsoft founder Bill Gates.

This reactor (pdf) works something like a cigarette. A chain reaction is launched in one end of a closed cylinder of spent uranium fuel, creating a slow-moving “deflagration,” a wave of nuclear fission reactions that keeps breeding neutrons as it makes way through the container, keeping the self-sustaining reaction going.

And it goes and goes, perhaps for 100 years, said former Bechtel Corp. physicist John Gilleland.

3D display made of flying pixel-copters in the works

3D display made of flying pixel-copters in the works – tech – 25 February 2010 – New Scientist

This may be the year that 3D television sets flood the market, but some engineers have turned to aircraft in search of a viewing experience that is still more immersive.

Two teams at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are working on a unique 3D display dubbed Flyfire, in which a flock of tiny aircraft carrying multicoloured LEDs hover in front of the viewer to form an image. As pixels that can move through space, the free-flying LEDs could form a shape-shifting 3D display (see video). As well as the pixels displaying moving images like a normal screen, they could change their position to add real depth.

Intelligent people more likely to be left-wing atheists

Intelligent people more likely to be left-wing atheists | TG Daily

“Humans are evolutionarily designed to be paranoid, and they believe in God because they are paranoid,” says Kanazawa. This innate bias toward paranoia served humans well when self-preservation and protection of their families and clans depended on extreme vigilance to all potential dangers.

“So, more intelligent children are more likely to grow up to go against their natural evolutionary tendency to believe in God, and they become atheists,” he says.

Young adults who identify themselves as ‘not at all religious’ have an average IQ of 103 during adolescence, while those who identify themselves as ‘very religious’ have an average IQ of 97 during adolescence.

Nexus Technology Announces VCT-9000 CPU Cooler

Nexus Technology Announces VCT-9000 CPU Cooler

Nexus announces the VCT-9000 CPU cooler. The Nexus VCT-9000 cooler combines some of the most advanced technologies in the market used for CPU coolers: heat pipes directly on the CPU core, SkiveTek and 3 types of ultra-thin fins combined with a real silent PWM controlled 12cm fan at a 25 degree angle. This type op performance has never been this quiet before.

The real Avatar: ocean bacteria act as ‘superorganism’

The real Avatar: ocean bacteria act as ‘superorganism’ – life – 24 February 2010 – New Scientist

IN THE movie Avatar, the Na’avi people of Pandora plug themselves into a network that links all elements of the biosphere, from phosphorescent plants to pterodactyl-like birds. It turns out that Pandora’s interconnected ecosystem may have a parallel back on Earth: sulphur-eating bacteria that live in muddy sediments beneath the sea floor.

Some researchers believe that bacteria in ocean sediments are connected by a network of microbial nanowires. These fine protein filaments could shuttle electrons back and forth, allowing communities of bacteria to act as one super-organism. Now Lars Peter Nielsen of Aarhus University in Denmark and his team have found tantalising evidence to support this controversial theory.

RCS & RDS nu face faţă cererii de modemuri pentru Internet mobil

RCS & RDS nu face faţă cererii de modemuri pentru Internet mobil – Capital.ro

Digi Net Mobil, serviciul de Internet mobil al RCS & RDS, are un succes neaşteptat în Capitală. La 3 luni de la lansarea serviciului, la multe puncte comerciale ale companiei nu se găsesc modemuri, iar atunci când sunt aduse se aşteaptă la cozi ore bune.

Se poate produce curent electric din nisip

Se poate produce curent electric din nisip – Capital.ro

O companie din Statele Unite afirmă că a găsit răspunsul la problema energetică a Americii şi a lumii întregi. Aceasta a descoperit un produs revoluţionar care poate produce curent electric din nisip. Bloom Box este o cutie care produce electricitate fără combustie, eficient şi ieftin.