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When hardware goes haywire

May 16th, 2012
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It all started with repeated beeps while turning on his laptop and with strange colours or images appearing on the screen and ended with complete hardware failure of the personal notebook of Shantanu Chatterjee, 21, an engineering student. He had to shell out over Rs 7,000 to get the problem corrected.

Chatterjee, who is a technology freak, couldn’t understand how despite using best firewalls, virus scanners, and anti-spyware applications this problem cropped up. And it turned out to be the case of complete hardware failure that had started with spilling of a few drops of water on his keyboard.

Computer hardware is one such area that often remains unattended by most of the users as many of them tend to take it for granted that it can’t be harmed. But no effective firewall or anti-spyware application will do good if the system has been interfered by an outsider or some hardware problem has erupted.

“I was having problems with charging of the battery and I did not take it seriously. I used to adjust the position of the adapter pin inside the connector and it would start working. But there was a problem with the charger and continuous use of faulty device damaged the whole battery,” Priyanka Jain, 26, a resident of Sector 8, told TOI. According to experts, laptops and notebooks require even more precision while troubleshooting various hardware problems.

“If something is wrong with the hardware then it would also affect windows and softwares. Such snags are very difficult to detect and in most of the cases, users keep ignoring them. They are just like silent killers and cause harm to the device on a slow but steady pace,” Suresh Deewan, a computer hardware engineer, told TOI.

Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/When-hardware-goes-haywire/articleshow/13159644.cms

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Asus Reveals Snazzy SBW-06C2X-U 3D Blu-ray Writer

May 15th, 2012
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The wide open worlds of 3D and Blu-ray are combining, and it’s Asus that’s bringing the two closer than ever. The company’s new SBW-06C2X-U is a 3D Blu-ray writer, fully supporting BDXL, 6x Blu-ray writes, Blu-ray 3D playback, 2D-to-3D conversions, DVD upscaling to 1080p HD, 5.1 channel Dolby EX and DTS-HD and the ability to even play nice with Mac machines — which cannot be ordered with Blu-ray from the factory, strangely enough.

The device can be used upright or horizontal, and the sleek black form factor is certainly nice to look at. The unit is aimed at those who need to archive massive amounts of data, with the ability to burn up to 100GB on BD-R(TL), and 128GB of BD-R(QL). There’s no word on a price just yet, but you can bet there will be some sort of price premium baked in for all of its good looks.

Sourcehttp://hothardware.com/News/Asus-Reveals-Snazzy-SBW06C2XU-3D-Bluray-Writer/

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Lenovo Targets Budget-Minded Professionals With New ThinkStation E31

May 15th, 2012
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Lenovo announced the Lenovo ThinkStation E31 entry-level workstation. The ThinkStation E31 is available as a mini-tower or a small form factor (SFF), with both offering Intel Xeon E3 or 3rd generation Intel Core i7 processor options. The workstations also feature 1600MHz DDR3 memory DIMMs, USB 3.0 ports, and Intel HD Graphics P4000 or NVIDIA Quadro graphic cards. Users have the option of up to 9TB of storage with the tower model or 6TB on the SFF. The ThinkStation E31 tower will be available in early June; the ThinkStation E31 SFF will be available mid-July. Pricing starts at approximately $629.

Lenovo (HKSE: 0992)(PINK SHEETS: LNVGY) today announced the Lenovo ThinkStation E31, an entry-level workstation for professionals requiring a powerful desktop workstation within a PC budget. Offered as a mini-tower or small form factor (SFF) both include choices of the latest speedy Intel® Xeon® Processor E3 along with enhanced memory performance and graphics capabilities.

“The ThinkStation E31 an ideal choice for small-to-medium businesses or professionals that need more power and performance than they are getting out of their desktop computer,” said Robert Herman, director of product and vertical solutions, Workstation Business Unit, Lenovo. “We have worked closely with customers to figure out how to deliver compact design, reliable hardware components and comprehensive support for the latest ISV applications to meet their needs. The ThinkStation E31 offers businesses a powerful way to get more from their business applications without breaking the bank.”

Strong, Seamless Performance

The dependable ThinkStation E31 tower and SFF feature the Intel® Xeon® processor E3-1200 v2 product family or 3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i7 Processor so applications run fast and reliably, helping to maximize productivity. Users also benefit from the workstation’s Error Correcting Code (ECC) memory which virtually eliminates memory-related failures, as well as 1600 MHz DDR3 Memory DIMMs, for application responsiveness and the ability to multitask without slowing down. Adding to the productivity features of this workstation is the inclusion of USB 3.0 ports which provides up to 10x faster transfer rates over USB 2.0.

Both models offer professional graphics capabilities with the option of Intel® HD Graphics P4000 or NVIDIA Quadro Graphic cards (up to the Q4000 in the tower model and Q600 in the SFF). The E31 ThinkStation can handle end users’ large storage needs with up to 9TB of storage for the tower model or 6TB on the Small Form Factor. Equipped with Windows 7 Professional, the ThinkStation E31 workstation supports a variety of independent software vendor (ISV) applications for professionals in the engineering, design and financial services industry, including Adobe, AutoDesk, Dassault, PTC, Solidworks and Siemens.1

“We are all about helping users employ technology to support them in acquiring greater insight faster. Lenovo’s ThinkStation E31 entry level workstation combined with our new Intel® Xeon® processor E3-1200 v2 product family is helping to do that by bringing workstation performance to designers, engineers, and others who until now believed this level of speed and capacity was out of reach,” said Frank Soqui, Workstation Group General Manager, Intel Corporation. “The ThinkStation E31 with Intel® HD Graphics P4000 is also an ideal upgrade for users who have been using consumer technologies to perform basic 2D, 3D, video editing, and financial modeling and require the support for up to three monitors.”

Sustainable Green Machine

The workstation’s eco-conscious design offers up to a 92 percent efficient power supply, as well as Energy Star 5.2, 80 Plus Platinum, EPEAT Gold and GREENGUARD certifications. Our innovative design allows our workstation to run cooler and quieter. Additionally, at less than half the size of the mini-tower, the newest SFF (11L) option provides an ideal space-saving choice for smaller office work areas.

Pricing and Availability

The Lenovo ThinkStation E31 tower model will be available in early June and the Lenovo ThinkStation E31 SFF will be available mid-July. Pricing for models starts at approximately $629.

Source:http://hothardware.com/News/Lenovo-Targets-BudgetMinded-Professionals-With-New-ThinkStation-E31/

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AMD Trinity A10-4600M Processor Review

May 15th, 2012
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AMD’s second-generation Bulldozer core processor microarchitecture, codenamed Piledriver, has made headlines at HotHardware many times in the past few months, including our CES sneak peek of the chip that AMD is launching today for the mobile market, codenamed Trinity. What this launch is all about is AMD’s answer to Intel’s Ivy Bridge-based Core series processors for notebooks. It’s that straightforward, though we’ll start by level-setting expectations based on how both companies and their respective architectures approach computing workloads.

For AMD, Trinity has also been reported as offering much-needed performance enhancements in IPC (Instructions Per Cycle) but also more of the same strength in gaming and multimedia horsepower, with an enhanced second generation Radeon HD graphics engine.

In the pages ahead, we’ll dive into AMD’s new Trinity architecture and AMD’s new A10 series APU, along with lots of benchmark data looking at the results of AMD’s recent efforts from a number of angles.

Source:http://hothardware.com/News/AMD-Trinity-A104600M-Processor-Review/

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AMD Announces the Launch of Second Generation Trinity A-Series APUs

May 15th, 2012
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AMD today announced the widely anticipated launch of its 2nd-Generation AMD A-Series Accelerated Processing Units (APUs) for mainstream and ultrathin notebooks, All-in-One and traditional desktops, home theater PCs and embedded designs.

The 2nd-Generation A-Series APU, codenamed “Trinity”, is a grounds-up improved design over the previous generation, enabling a best-in-class PC mobility, entertainment, and gaming experience. New features of the product design include:

● Double the performance per watt of the previous generation;
● The AMD HD Media Accelerator with a unique set of technologies designed to optimize video quality available with premium and Internet video content, and accelerate video file conversion;
● An increase in CPU performance of up to 29 percent with higher processor speeds thanks to the next-generation AMD “Piledriver” CPU core with 3rd-Generation AMD Turbo Core technology, where power is dynamically shifted between the CPU and GPU depending on application needs, effectively providing a more responsive experience that can boost CPU frequencies to up to 3.2 GHz;

● AMD Radeon HD 7000 Series graphics for an increase of graphics performance up to 56% over the previous generation. Combined, the CPU and GPU cores deliver more than 700 gigaflops of computing performance – several times more than the fastest x86 CPUs – to boost performance of hundreds of applications;
● Up to 12 hours of battery life through CPU and GPU power enhancements, with clear battery life leadership in notebook form factors.

“The latest OEM notebooks, ultrathins, All-in-Ones and desktops based on the new AMD A-Series APU enable the best video and gaming experiences, highly responsive performance with AMD Turbo CORE, and accelerate an ever-increasing range of productivity and multimedia applications — in sleek, stylish designs at price points that make sense,” said Chris Cloran, corporate vice president and General Manager, AMD Client Business Unit. “Our 2nd-Generation AMD A-Series APU is a major step forward in every performance and power dimension, allowing users to enjoy a stunning experience without having to give up the things that matter to them most. This experience doesn’t stop at mainstream notebooks. It carries over into affordable ultrathin form factors featuring the latest in AMD Radeon graphics.”

The Growing AMD Accelerated Application Ecosystem
The developer ecosystem continues to gravitate to the unmatched level of compute and unique processing capabilities of the APU as more than 100 applications and games are now accelerated by AMD APUs. The 2nd-Generation AMD A-Series APU gives users superior Web-based video experience thanks to plug-ins for Google Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer 9 that make it easy for consumers to turn on AMD Steady Video technology. Recent applications that have been optimized for use on AMD A-Series APUs include Adobe Photoshop CS6, WinZip 16.5 and VLC Media Player. AMD A-Series APUs are also well-positioned to take advantage of the upcoming transition to the Windows 8 operating system.

“We are excited for the introduction of the 2nd-Generation AMD A-Series APU and are confident it will continue the great work Microsoft and AMD have done together on the A-Series APU,” said Aidan Marcuss, senior director, Windows Business Planning, Microsoft Corp. “We look forward to seeing the A-Series APU in action with Windows 8 to deliver a great user experience across a variety of hardware.”

For developers who want to engage in the industry’s move toward heterogeneous computing, the upcoming AMD Fusion Developer Summit will offer them a unique opportunity to enhance their knowledge base. More information on AFDS can be found here.

Unmatched Mobility
With more than 12 hours of ‘resting’ battery life, AMD is now an industry leader in notebook battery-life performance. The 2nd-Generation AMD A-Series APU delivers increased levels of performance, while consuming half the power as its predecessor.

These gains can be attributed to the new power-optimized “Piledriver” CPU core, as well as to AMD Start Now technology, which is designed to maximize system responsiveness by quickly entering and exiting low power states. With AMD Start Now, the computer resumes from sleep mode in as few as two seconds and boots to the desktop in as few as 10 seconds.

In ultrathin form factors, AMD enables an uncompromised visual experience thanks to a power-efficient and premium AMD Radeon graphics engine. Consumers can expect to see ultrathin notebooks based on dual-core 17-watt and quad-core 25-watt AMD A-Series APUs. These products will be easily identifiable by aluminum-styled VISION Technology stickers at a range of competitive price points.

Best-in-class Entertainment
As more and more people turn to their computers as the hub for their entertainment, the visual aspect of computing becomes ever more important. To enhance these capabilities, AMD created the AMD HD Media Accelerator – a unique set of technologies that enable the best video quality on a PC. Key features of the HD Media Accelerator include:

● AMD Perfect Picture HD – An image, video processing and display technology that automatically makes images and video better with color vibrancy adjustments, edge enhancement, noise reduction and dynamic contrast fixes;
● AMD Steady Video Technology – A technology that enables smooth playback of jittery video content with a single button click thanks to plug-ins for popular Web browsers and multimedia applications;
● AMD Quick Stream Technology – A new technology that prioritizes video streaming on PC systems for a smooth, virtually uninterrupted video stream;
● True HD video chat with up to four people at once;
● AMD Video Converter – A video compression engine for fast conversion and sharing of media files across multiple formats and devices;
● Full decode support for H.264, MPEG-2, VC-1, MVC, DivX and WMV.

Gaming Leadership
The 2nd-Generation AMD A-Series APU builds on AMD’s legacy of gaming leadership with an increase in graphics performance of up to 56% over the previous generation and support for:

● AMD Eyefinity Technology – For the first time, this immersive technology is available from an APU without the need for a discrete graphics card;
● Performance-leading DirectX 11 graphics architecture and 1080p gaming a life-like level of detail;
● AMD Radeon dual graphics support that delivers a performance boost of up to 75 percent when adding a discrete graphics card to the APU. The AMD Radeon dual graphics option also offers support for DirectX 9 for older game titles, and uses new AMD CrossFire Technology Profiles for easier updates.

Availability and Technical Details
AMD has a record number of design wins with companies like Acer, Asus, HP, Lenovo, Samsung, Sony and Toshiba based on our 2nd-Generation AMD A-Series APUs and VISION Technology from AMD, with mainstream and ultrathin notebooks as well as embedded solutions, available beginning today.

Desktops systems and component channel parts will be available later this year.

Source:http://wccftech.com/amd-announces-launch-generation-trinity-aseries-apus/

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EU-Microsoft browser deal requires ballot screen in Windows 8

May 15th, 2012
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Microsoft today declined to comment when asked whether it believed it’s required to offer a ballot screen in Windows 8 to European users for selecting rival browsers in the new operating system’s desktop mode.

In late 2009, Microsoft struck a deal with European Union (EU) antitrust regulators that required the company to display a screen in Windows providing download links to other browsers, including Mozilla’s Firefox, Google’s Chrome and Opera Software’s Opera.

The settlement specifically called out future editions of Windows.

“For Windows Client PC Operating Systems after Windows 7, the Choice Screen update will first be made available at the general commercial release date of such an operating system and remain in place for distribution … for the entire duration of these Commitments,” the document stated.

According to the final agreement (download PDF), the deal has a five-year lifespan — meaning it will expire in late 2014 — and broadly defined “Windows” and “Internet Explorer” to include “successors” of the then-current Windows 7 and IE8.

Microsoft and EU regulators came to agreement on browser choice after a two-year investigation by the latter, who filed a formal “statement of objections” to Microsoft’s practice of bundling Internet Explorer (IE) in January 2009. The EU inquiry was prompted by a 2007 complaint submitted by Norwegian browser maker Opera Software.

Microsoft agreed to provide a way to disable IE and to show a ballot screen to users who had not changed the default browser.

Windows has always shipped with IE as the default browser, a practice Microsoft continued with Windows 8 Consumer Preview, the early build it launched in February.

Although Windows 8 features a new “Metro” mode for smaller-scale, touch-based apps, it also boasts a traditional “desktop” environment where existing x86/64 applications — those which now run in Windows 7, for example — operate. Current browsers, such as Firefox, Chrome and Opera will be able to run in the desktop mode, even if they’re not recast to include a Metro front end.

If implemented in Windows 8’s desktop, the ballot screen would presumably feature the same set of rival browsers as is now offered to Windows 7 customers in the European Union and several other countries.

Microsoft declined to comment on its interpretation of the ballot screen requirement regarding Windows 8 and its desktop.

The EU’s Competition Commission — the body’s antitrust agency — was not available for comment Monday.

Browser rival Opera also declined to comment; Google and Mozilla did not immediately reply to requests for their stance on the ballot screen in Windows 8.

The question of the ballot screen’s applicability to Windows 8 was first raised last week by Mozilla when its chief counsel, Harvey Anderson, blasted Microsoft for blocking access to Win32 APIs in Windows RT, the edition that will power devices with ARM-licensed processors.

At the time, Anderson argued that Windows RT — while a separate version from Windows 8, it shares considerable code with its sibling — may also be bound by Microsoft’s settlement with the EU.

“If Windows on ARM is simply another version of Windows on new hardware, it also runs afoul of the EC browser choice commitments,” Anderson wrote in a May 9 blog post.

The Microsoft-EU settlement provides an enforcement clause that allows the latter to reopen the case or levy substantial fines if it believes the former is in violation of the agreement.

Source:http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9227148/EU_Microsoft_browser_deal_requires_ballot_screen_in_Windows_8

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MIT’s Brainput boosts your brain power by offloading multitasking to a computer

May 15th, 2012
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A group of American researchers from MIT, Indiana University, and Tufts University, led by Erin Treacy Solovey, have developed Brainput — pronounced brain-put, not bra-input — a system that can detect when your brain is trying to multitask, and offload some of that workload to a computer.

The idea of using computers to do our grunt work isn’t exactly new — without them, the internet wouldn’t exist, manufacturing would be a very different beast, and we’d all have to get a lot better at mental arithmetic. I would say that the development of cheap, general purpose computers over the last 50 years, and the freedoms they have granted us, is one of mankind’s most important advancements. Brainput is something else entirely though.

Using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), which is basically a portable, poor man’s version of fMRI, Brainput measures the activity of your brain. This data is analyzed, and if Brainput detects that you’re multitasking, the software kicks in and helps you out. In the case of the Brainput research paper, Solovey and her team set up a maze with two remotely controlled robots. The operator, equipped with fNIRS headgear, has to navigate both robots through the maze simultaneously, constantly switching back and forth between them. When Brainput detects that the driver is multitasking, it tells the robots to use their own sensors to help with navigation. Overall, with Brainput turned on, operator performance improved — and yet they didn’t generally notice that the robots were partially autonomous.

Now, it’s easy to see how this could be extrapolated out into the real world. We already have steering wheels that detect when we’re falling asleep — with Brainput, your car could automatically drive itself during that split second where you turn around to shout at your kids, or twiddle with various dashboard knobs. The same goes for airplane pilots, or indeed anyone seated behind the controls of a large, dangerous vehicle. As you can see in the picture at the top of the story, fNIRS is lightweight and doesn’t require a lot of hardware — and there are wireless systems available, too.

Moving forward, Solovey now wants to investigate other cognitive states that can be reliably detected using fNIRS. Imagine a computer that increases the size of buttons and text when you’re tired, or a video game that slows down when you’re stressed. Your Xbox might detect that you’re in the mood for fighting games, and change its splash screen accordingly. Likewise, Firefox could detect that you’re feeling amorous, and automatically load up Private Browsing mode. Menu buttons could move around and change in size — or disappear entirely. Eventually, computer interfaces might completely remold themselves to your mental state.

Source:http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/129279-mits-brainput-boosts-your-brain-power-by-offloading-multitasking-to-a-computer

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