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VB Kid
Monday, September 29, 2014
Saturday, September 27, 2014
MagMIMO: MIT’s new long-range wireless charging tech that works like WiFi
Should be awesome...
Wireless charging already exists in various forms, but you still have to get your device pretty close to the charger for it to work. Innovations like Qi 1.2 promise to extend the range of wireless charging, but a team at MIT has unveiled a new wireless charging tech called MagMIMO. If this system can be perfected, you might not even have to take the phone out of your pocket to charge it — MagMIMO will simply detect the phone and project a cone of energy toward it to connect.
Wireless charging already exists in various forms, but you still have to get your device pretty close to the charger for it to work. Innovations like Qi 1.2 promise to extend the range of wireless charging, but a team at MIT has unveiled a new wireless charging tech called MagMIMO. If this system can be perfected, you might not even have to take the phone out of your pocket to charge it — MagMIMO will simply detect the phone and project a cone of energy toward it to connect.
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
USB Type-C connector will also support DisplayPort: Finally, one cable will fit every hole
Every single one
The USB Promoters Group and VESA have announced that the new reversible USB Type-C connector, along with supporting power delivery of up to 100 watts, will also support the simultaneous transport of DisplayPort 1.3 — and thus HDMI 2.0 and DVI will also work, with an adapter. Yes, it’s looking like USB 3.1 with the Type-C connector will finally be a workable all-in-one cabling solution. Thunderbolt, we hardly knew you.
The USB Promoters Group and VESA have announced that the new reversible USB Type-C connector, along with supporting power delivery of up to 100 watts, will also support the simultaneous transport of DisplayPort 1.3 — and thus HDMI 2.0 and DVI will also work, with an adapter. Yes, it’s looking like USB 3.1 with the Type-C connector will finally be a workable all-in-one cabling solution. Thunderbolt, we hardly knew you.
India’s first Mars satellite enters orbit, costing just 11% of NASA’s own Mars mission
India’s Mars orbiter, Mangalyaan, has successfully inserted itself into Mars orbit. India becomes only the fourth space agency to successfully make it into Mars orbit, behind the Soviets, NASA, and the ESA. Remarkably, the entirety of India’s Mangalyaan mission cost just 4.5 billion rupees — or about $74 million. Compare this to NASA’s own MAVEN Mars orbiter, which has a total mission cost of around $672 million. This was also India’s first attempt to reach Mars orbit — historically, only Europe’s ESA made it to Mars on its first attempt.
Samsung 840 Evo has serious performance bug, fix on the way
Fix it...
Ever since it came out a year ago, the Samsung 840 Evo has been one of the best consumer SSDs on the market. While it relies on the same TLC (triple-level cell) NAND as the Samsung 840, the 840 Evo combines this slower, cheaper NAND flash with high speed SLC (single-level cell) NAND. Unfortunately, it seems there’s a problem with the SSD that has undercut its peanut butter-and-chocolate blend of excellent performance and cost-per-GB.
Ever since it came out a year ago, the Samsung 840 Evo has been one of the best consumer SSDs on the market. While it relies on the same TLC (triple-level cell) NAND as the Samsung 840, the 840 Evo combines this slower, cheaper NAND flash with high speed SLC (single-level cell) NAND. Unfortunately, it seems there’s a problem with the SSD that has undercut its peanut butter-and-chocolate blend of excellent performance and cost-per-GB.
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
This is Crescent Bay, the newest Oculus Rift and first with integrated audio
It's getting better, but not quite there yet
Oculus has unveiled the latest edition of its Rift VR headgear, called Crescent Bay.
The new Oculus Rift prototype, revealed during the Oculus Connect 2014 developer conference, is loaded with improvements and fresh features.
Chief among them is integrated audio, a first for Rift. With headphones attached to the headset (yet still optional) as opposed to requiring a separate peripheral, Oculus is moving one step closer to creating a complete VR experience ready for consumers.
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| A new Oculus Rift emerges |
Oculus has unveiled the latest edition of its Rift VR headgear, called Crescent Bay.
The new Oculus Rift prototype, revealed during the Oculus Connect 2014 developer conference, is loaded with improvements and fresh features.
Chief among them is integrated audio, a first for Rift. With headphones attached to the headset (yet still optional) as opposed to requiring a separate peripheral, Oculus is moving one step closer to creating a complete VR experience ready for consumers.
Monday, September 22, 2014
Nvidia’s ace in the hole against AMD
Maxwell is the first GPU with full DirectX 12 support
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In addition to Nvidia’s new Maxwell GPU having top-of-the-line performance and power efficiency, it has another feature that will probably make a lot more difference in the real world: It’s the first GPU to offer full support for Microsoft’s upcoming DirectX 12 and Direct3D 12 graphics APIs. According to Microsoft, it has worked with Nvidia engineers in a “zero-latency environment” for several months to get DX12 support baked into Maxwell and graphics drivers. Even more importantly, Microsoft then worked with Epic to get DirectX 12 support baked into Unreal Engine 4, and to build a tech demo of Fable Legends that uses DX12.
.......
Read the rest of this article here
Your VB Kid
Psypher
In addition to Nvidia’s new Maxwell GPU having top-of-the-line performance and power efficiency, it has another feature that will probably make a lot more difference in the real world: It’s the first GPU to offer full support for Microsoft’s upcoming DirectX 12 and Direct3D 12 graphics APIs. According to Microsoft, it has worked with Nvidia engineers in a “zero-latency environment” for several months to get DX12 support baked into Maxwell and graphics drivers. Even more importantly, Microsoft then worked with Epic to get DirectX 12 support baked into Unreal Engine 4, and to build a tech demo of Fable Legends that uses DX12.
.......
Read the rest of this article here
Your VB Kid
Psypher
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Destiny’s graphics nearly identical on PS4 and Xbox One
Ohh really?
Back in July, when Bungie was running a public beta for Destiny, there was much ado over the resolution differences between the Xbox One and PS4 versions. Bungie promised that the disparity would be ironed out before launch, and much squabbling was had on forums across the net. Destiny is finally out now, and the whole community has been going over it with a fine-toothed comb. So, did Bungie keep its promise?
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| Destiny |
Back in July, when Bungie was running a public beta for Destiny, there was much ado over the resolution differences between the Xbox One and PS4 versions. Bungie promised that the disparity would be ironed out before launch, and much squabbling was had on forums across the net. Destiny is finally out now, and the whole community has been going over it with a fine-toothed comb. So, did Bungie keep its promise?
Turn your Xbox One into a laptop for $1100
Meh...
Do you wish you had a portable Xbox One — a way to play your games while you’re away from your TV? Microsoft doesn't offer any sort of Remote Play functionality, but there is a solution: the Xbox One laptop. A clever tinkerer named Ed Zarick has developed a clamshell Xbox One mod that lets you play your console even when you’re away from your living room. Want one? Well, prepare to lay down more than a grand for this behemoth.
Do you wish you had a portable Xbox One — a way to play your games while you’re away from your TV? Microsoft doesn't offer any sort of Remote Play functionality, but there is a solution: the Xbox One laptop. A clever tinkerer named Ed Zarick has developed a clamshell Xbox One mod that lets you play your console even when you’re away from your living room. Want one? Well, prepare to lay down more than a grand for this behemoth.
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
You need 2000 DVDs to fill HGST's new 10TB HDD
Not an ordinary drive
HGST has started to sample 10TB hard disk drives, 10 months after it introduced the first 6TB hard disk drive. Since then Seagate managed to introduce the first 8TB hard drive and has hinted that it has 10TB models already out in the wild.
HGST's 10TB model combines two different technologies - one based on using helium rather than air and the other, shingled magnetic recording. HGST claims that together they provide the lowest cost and power consumption per TB.
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| HGST 10TB HDD |
HGST has started to sample 10TB hard disk drives, 10 months after it introduced the first 6TB hard disk drive. Since then Seagate managed to introduce the first 8TB hard drive and has hinted that it has 10TB models already out in the wild.
HGST's 10TB model combines two different technologies - one based on using helium rather than air and the other, shingled magnetic recording. HGST claims that together they provide the lowest cost and power consumption per TB.
Friday, September 05, 2014
Digital game downloads are worse for the environment than Blu-ray discs
Downloading is bad?
You would think that the world would be a less polluted place if everyone switched to digital downloads, lessening the number of physical objects — and factories to produce them — in the world. A recent study suggests that even though removing physical objects lowers the potential for future for garbage and factory pollution, going digital isn’t the best answer to cleaning up the planet — in fact, the carbon footprint of downloading games is actually higher than buying a physical copy.
You would think that the world would be a less polluted place if everyone switched to digital downloads, lessening the number of physical objects — and factories to produce them — in the world. A recent study suggests that even though removing physical objects lowers the potential for future for garbage and factory pollution, going digital isn’t the best answer to cleaning up the planet — in fact, the carbon footprint of downloading games is actually higher than buying a physical copy.
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