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February 9, 2012February 9, 2012

From Engadget: Researchers get CPUs and GPUs talking, boost PC performance by 20 percent

How do you fancy a 20 percent boost to your processor’s performance? Research from the North Carolina State University claims to offer just that. Despite the emergence of fused architecture SoCs, the CPU and GPU cores typically still work independently. The University hoped that by assigning tasks based on each processor’s abilities, performance efficiency would be increased. As the CPU and GPU can fetch data at comparable speeds, the researchers set the GPUs to execute the computational functions, while the CPUs did the prefetching. With that data ready in advance, the graphics processor unit has more resources free, yielding an average performance boost of 21.4 percent though it’s unclear what metrics the researchers were using. Incidentally, the research was funded by AMD, so no prizes for guessing which chips we might see using the technique first.

from Engadget

February 9, 2012February 9, 2012

From Engadget: Two US startups break solar efficiency records, aim to light up your life

Two US startups are breaking solar efficiency records in their quest to bring clean, cost-effective, eco-friendly energy to a power grid near you. Alta Devices, based in Santa Clara, CA, has achieved a 23.5 percent efficiency rating with its standard solar panel, while Semprius, a Durham, NC company, has achieved a rating of 33.9 percent with its concentrated photovoltaic offering — besting the previous records of 22.9 percent and 33 percent, respectively. Interestingly enough, both outfits chose to utilize a new material to construct their sun-sopping cells: gallium arsenide. The material, while more expensive, is better suited for absorbing the sun’s energy, especially when compared to silicon, the cheaper element typically used. Alta and Semprius are looking to proliferate solar power by further refining the technology, making its price per kilowatt equivalent to that of fossil fuels without the use of government subsides. Here comes the sun…

from Engadget

February 9, 2012February 9, 2012

From Engadget: Vonage Mobile app allows free calls and texts worldwide to fellow Android and iOS users

Looking to save some coin on those international calls to your mates in Brussels? Vonage has just rolled out new Android and iOS apps that do just that. The Vonage Mobile app offers free talk and text for corresponding with fellow app users worldwide by way of WiFi or data connection. Need to update app-less Auntie Em while backpacking through the Swiss Alps? The outfit says it’ll save you 70% over major carriers and costs 30% less than Skype. For calls to folks without the app, users can add calling credit in either $4.99 or $9.99 increments right from the iTunes store or Android Market. The software also makes use of your existing number and extensive list of contacts without the need to create another username. Right now, calls to any phone in the US of A, Canada or Puerto Rico are free from the app for a limited time — so long as you stay under 3000 minutes per month, of course. Hit the source link or PR below for more information before heading to your app repository to snag the free download.

Continue reading Vonage Mobile app allows free calls and texts worldwide to fellow Android and iOS users

from Engadget

February 9, 2012February 9, 2012

From Ars Technica: Double Fine seeks to cut out publishers with Kickstarter-funded adventure

The fact that more and more companies and people are trying to change the way they do/make their stuff is a sign that the business models of the current years are in serious needs of adaptation/evolution/revolution…

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It seems industry analysts aren’t the only ones questioning the traditional game publishing model these days, as Tim Schafer’s Double Fine (Brutal Legend, Costume Quest) has launched a Kickstarter project to crowdsource funding for “a brand-new, downloadable ‘Point-and-Click’ graphic adventure game for the modern age.”

from Ars Technica

February 9, 2012February 9, 2012

From Ars Technica: Critics slam SSL authority for minting certificate for impersonating sites

Critics are calling for the ouster of Trustwave as a trusted issuer of secure sockets layer certificates after it admitted minting a credential it knew would be used by a customer to impersonate websites it didn’t own.

The so-called subordinate root certificate allowed the customer to issue SSL credentials that Internet Explorer and other major browsers would accept as valid for any server on the Internet. The unnamed buyer of this skeleton key used it to perform what amounted to man-in-the-middle attacks that monitored users of its internal network as they accessed SSL-encrypted websites and services. The data-loss-prevention system used a hardware security module to ensure the private key at the heart of the root certificate wasn’t accidentally leaked or retrieved by hackers.

from Ars Technica

February 9, 2012February 9, 2012

From Ars Technica: Forget transparent aluminum: researchers make iron invisible to X-rays

Transparency is generally a property of a material’s density or
crystal structure, and varies depending on the wavelength of
light. However, transparency can also be achieved by exploiting quantum interference between energy levelÂ transitions in atoms. Up until now, such transparency has been confined to optical
wavelengths, due to the
typical energies of atomic transitions.

Transitioning between energy levels within atomic nuclei (instead of electron transitions) involves much
higher energies, corresponding to hard X-ray frequencies. Ralf
RÃ¶hlsberger, Hans-Christian Wille, Kai
Schlage, and Balaram Sahoo of the Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY) in
Germany have induced transparency in iron-57 nuclei, using an X-ray
laser to drive the nuclei to resonance. The experiment not only made
the iron nuclei nearly vanish, but also slowed the X-ray photons to a
small fraction of their usual speed. This result holds out the
tantalizing possibility of quantum optics in the nuclear regime,
providing us new ways of manipulating light at far higher energies than
have previously been possible.

from Ars Technica

February 8, 2012February 9, 2012

From Autoblog: Official: 2013 Hyundai Elantra Coupe has the Civic in its Fluidic sights

Filed under: Chicago Auto Show, Coupe, Hyundai

Hyundai wants its Elantra to dominate the C segment, and that means in all body styles. The just-introduced five-door GT is set to battle the Ford Focus and Subaru Impreza hatchbacks, and this new Elantra Coupe clearly has the two-door Honda Civic in its sights.

The four-door Elantra already wears pretty rakish sheetmetal that carries over nicely to the Coupe, which is actually half an inch longer than the sedan (173.8 inches versus 173.3 inches). The other dimensions are identical to the sedan, and Hyundai cites greater interior room as one of the Coupe’s advantages over its competition. By contrast, the Honda Civic Coupe is 0.3 inches shorter than the Elantra Coupe, and the Honda rides on a three-inch shorter wheelbase.

The Elantra Coupe has more power than the Honda Civic Coupe and the manual should get 1 mpg more in the city and 4 more mpg on the highway

Hyundai’s new two-door gets the same 1.8-liter inline four-cylinder being liberally spread across the line, with the same 148 horsepower and 131 pound-feet as the Elantra GT and the same pair of six-speed manual and automatic transmissions. Mileage is estimated to be 29 city/40 highway for the manual and 28 city/39 highway for auto. This means the Elantra Coupe has more power than the Honda Civic Coupe and, if the fuel economy numbers hold true, the manual would get 1 mpg more in the city and 4 more mpg on the highway, but both slushbox cars would be dead even.

There will be two Elantra Coupe trims: base GS or top-spec SE. Both have been tuned for extra sportiness versus the sedan and, as we’ve come to expect, while Hyundai throws plenty at the GS, the SE gets the truly sporty goods. The SE swaps the 16-inch standard rims for 17-inchers, gets a rear “lip spoiler design element,” even more suspension tuning for its lower-profile tires, and only it offers the option of touchscreen navigation and a rear-view camera. Both models, however, will get seven exterior colors, three of them Coupe-only, but inside it’s nothing but black or grey.

Pricing should come soon, but for now, enjoy the press release after the jump and the high-res gallery of images. Stay tuned for more impressions live from the Chicago Auto Show floor.

Continue reading 2013 Hyundai Elantra Coupe has the Civic in its Fluidic sights

from Autoblog