General Gaming Article

General Gaming Article

Cedar Trail Successor Could Be a 22nm SoC with Ivy Bridge Graphics

Posted: 23 Mar 2012 05:17 PM PDT

Once abuzz with plenty of activity, the netbook segment wears a deserted look nowadays. PC vendors don't seem to be interested in netbooks anymore and have turned their attention elsewhere. But Intel, despite its aggressive ultrabook push, still continues to view these diminutive devices as a "sustainable business." Even though Cedar Trail hasn't really set the world alight, the chipmaker doesn't quite seem ready to give up on netbooks yet. Hit the jump for Intel's future plans for netbooks.

Cedar Trail's successor has been revealed to be a 22nm system-on-chip (SoC) called "Valley View" in a recently leaked roadmap from embedded systems company Advancetech. Going by the leaked information, we're looking at a fan-less SoC with up to four CPU cores, up to 8GB of DDR3 RAM, USB 3.0 support and around four times the graphical performance of its predecessor.

The massive improvement in graphical performance is reportedly down to the use of Ivy Bridge graphics, unlike Cedar Trail which packs PowerVR SGX545 graphics. Valle yView is, in the words of Jesse Barnes of Intel's Open-Source Technology Center, a "Cedar View-like chip but with an Ivy bridge graphics core."

According to Linux hardware site Phoronix, Intel has already released open-source driver code to support Valley View. The code points to the presence of something called the "Pondicherry" memory arbiter, support for two DisplayPort displays, and HDMI output support.

Image Credit: The Verge

Facebook, Senator Threaten To Fight Social Media Password-Seeking Employers

Posted: 23 Mar 2012 11:17 AM PDT

Usually, it takes far-reaching government bills or the mention of DRM to prod geeks into picking up their proverbial torches and pitchforks and expressing outrage en masse, but Wednesday's news of employers asking job applicants for their Facebook passwords caused a crapstorm of Netflix-price like proportions. Turns out, everyday folks aren't the only ones angry about it: a Connecticut Senator and Facebook itself whipped out threats of legislation and lawsuits, respectively, if the privacy-invading practice continues.

"For an employer to ask to have a password or login information is like asking for the keys someone's home so as to be able to rummage through drawers or files. There's simply no justification for it," Senator Richard Blumenthal told CBS earlier today. The Senator also said he is writing a bill that would outlaw employers asking for applicants' social media login information.

Erin Egan, Facebook's Chief Privacy Officer, addressed the issue head-on in a message on the social network this morning. Besides pointing out the fact that companies that rifle through applicants' social profiles could be opening themselves up to potential discrimination and information protection liabilities, Egan also threatened the wrath of Zuckerberg on any company that asks for users' login credentials:

We'll take action to protect the privacy and security of our users, whether by engaging policymakers or, where appropriate, by initiating legal action, including by shutting down applications that abuse their privileges… it is important that everyone on Facebook understands they have a right to keep their password to themselves, and we will do our best to protect that right.

We're guessing any company would tremble at the thought of losing their Facebook account in these social media-crazy days, but do you think new laws should be put on the books to make employer login-mining illegal?

WHQL-Certified GTX 680 Drivers Limit Sandy Bridge-E To PCI-E 2.0 Speeds

Posted: 23 Mar 2012 10:34 AM PDT

If you've dropped the dough on a spiffy new enthusiast-level Sandy Bridge-E processor, you may decide to drop a corresponding level of dough on a spiffy new enthusiast-level Nvidia HTX 680 graphics card. (If so, we salute your Maximum-ness.) There's just one little caveat you should be aware of, however; Nvidia's initial WHQL drivers for the GTX 680 nerfs data transfer levels to slower PCI-E 2.0 speeds, rather than the blazing fast enthusiast-level PCI-E 3.0 x16 speeds the X79 chipset is capable of.

Hopefully it's just a short-term bump in the road due to software validation issues rather than a long-term hassle. Nvidia owns up to the slowed speeds on its specification page for the graphics card:

GeForce GTX 680 supports PCI Express 3.0. The Intel X79/SNB-E PCI Express 2.0 platform is only currently supported up to 5GT/s (PCIE 2.0) bus speeds even though some motherboard manufacturers have enabled higher 8GT/s speeds.

There is some good news, however: TechPowerUp reports that the pre-launch drivers shipped on the disc that comes with the GTX 680 enable PCI-E 3.0 on compatible Sandy Bridge-E systems. Basically, if you're a SB-E owner who feels the need for that extra data transfer speed, you can stick with the included pre-launch drivers for now and hold off on any new drivers updates until Nvidia comes up with a fix.

ISPs To Start Policing The Net More Actively At Government's, RIAA's Urging

Posted: 23 Mar 2012 10:24 AM PDT

Why would Big Brother bother watching you if he can get his best buddies to keep tabs on your activities for him? While a recent announcement that eight major ISPs would voluntarily implement measures to combat cybersecurity threats seems relatively benign enough (and probably even downright helpful), those same ISPs will start policing their pipes another way by July 12; by then, most Internet service providers are becoming a copyright rent-a-cops for the RIAA and MPAA. What ever happened to the dumb tubes idea?

We've already covered the ISPs' upcoming "graduated response" copyright policy, complete with possible education seminars, throttled surfing speeds, and any other  nebulous "measures that the ISP may deem necessary to help resolve the matter." Here's the original post if you missed it the first time around. Last week, RIAA boss Cary Sherman said that the enforcement policy -- which major providers like Verizon, Comcast, AT&T, Cablevision and Time Warner Cable have voluntarily agreed to implement -- will start running full throttle (Ha! Get it?) by July 12.

By the way, the White House called the ISP-content creator union a "a positive step and consistent with our strategy of encouraging voluntary efforts to strengthen online intellectual property enforcement and with our broader Internet policy principles, emphasizing privacy, free speech, competition and due process."

In somewhat related news, Computerworld reported yesterday that eight major ISPs -- including AT&T, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, T-Mobile and Verizon Communications -- have agreed to start another voluntary monitoring program; policing their networks for nasties like botnet activity, domain name fraud and route hijacking. The program came at the urging of the FCC, which also recommended specific actions for the ISPs.

Unlike the copyright cop deal, the FCC-urged program won't result in possible disconnection; instead, the ISPs have pledged to implement DNSSEC and educate, inform and assist subscribers who have been tricked into a botnet.

Google Maps Update Adds Greater Detail to 3D Landmarks

Posted: 23 Mar 2012 04:50 AM PDT

Some of the world's best known buildings have long been represented by 3D models in Google Maps, but they have never been closer to resembling their real-life counterparts. A recent update to Google Maps has given these 3D landmarks a much-needed facelift. Hit the jump for more.

As part of this update to Google Maps, over a thousand landmarks around the globe have had their 3D likenesses enhanced with greater detail. This has been done in order to enhance their accuracy and usefulness, according to Paul Messmer, a Google Maps software engineer.

"Say, you're looking out your hotel room window in Florence for the first time; it's much easier to get a sense of your location by simply comparing the shapes of buildings on the map to what you see out your window," Messmer wrote in a blog post. "By combining 3D buildings with other Google Maps features like Street View and driving directions, you'll have the most advanced 'tourist map' on the planet."

These updated 3D models have so far only made it to the basic version of Google Maps, and both Google MapsGL and the mobile version are still awaiting their arrival. While Google MapGL should receive the update "soon," there is no word on its availability on the mobile version.
Posted by Shri Krishna

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