General Gaming Article |
- OCZ's Everest Controllers Are Actually Marvell Hardware With Indilinx Firmware
- Scientists Create First Working Long-Distance Quantum Network Prototype
- MSI Unveils GTX 680 Twin Frozr III OC
- Multiple Fingers Point To An April 23 Launch Date For Ivy Bridge
- Court Rules Downloading Source Code is Not the Same as Stealing Physical Property
- Computer Sales Continue to Defy Post PC Era
- Verizon Succumbs to Peer Pressure, Starts Charging $30 Phone Upgrade Fee
- Caine's Arcade: 9-Year-Old Builds Intricate Game Gallery Out of Cardboard
| OCZ's Everest Controllers Are Actually Marvell Hardware With Indilinx Firmware Posted: 12 Apr 2012 12:03 PM PDT
Anand at AnandTech.com received a tip saying that the first generation Everest controller used the Marvell 88SS9174 hardware found in Crucial and Intel SSDs. Curious, he reached out to OCZ, who confirmed that both generations of the Everest controllers are built using Marvell tech. OCZ slightly overclocks the Marvell components and, as previously mentioned, uses its own firmware solution. So, what does that mean? Not much, other than showing that firmware makes a big difference in SSD performance. It also explains how OCZ was able to pump out two generations of Everest controllers so quickly. Nevertheless, the company told Anand that it is currently developing controllers that don't use Marvell components. |
| Scientists Create First Working Long-Distance Quantum Network Prototype Posted: 12 Apr 2012 11:17 AM PDT
Two rubidium atoms were prepared in two different labs, with each atom stationed in an "optical cavity" between a pair of reflective mirrors stationed half a millimeter apart. Each atom acts as a quantum bit; when it sheds a photon, the polarization of the photon contains the qubit information (read: quantum state) of the originating atom. The scientists coaxed an atom into emitting a photon using a laser, then blasted the photon into an optical fiber that carried it to the corresponding setup in the second lab. When the atom in the second lab absorbed the photon, it took on the same quantum state as the original atom. Bam! Information transferred and stored. The optical cavity is the secret sauce; atoms and photons are really, really small and would normally be way more likely to miss each other completely than smack into one another and become one. The reflective mirror walls of the optical cavity keep the blasted photon pinballing back and forth until it slams into the atom. Even more exciting, the scientists were then able to entangle the two atoms on a quantum level despite the distance between them. When two atoms are entangled, any changes made to one occur in the second one, as well -- instantaneously and regardless of the distance between them. Or, as Einstein called it, "spooky action at a distance." The research team envisions eventually creating a quantum network with the technology, using a series of similar optical cavity setups as "quantum repeaters" in a node-type structure. The full report is behind a paywall at Nature, but Scientific Computing has a great, detailed synopsis of the findings up for free. |
| MSI Unveils GTX 680 Twin Frozr III OC Posted: 12 Apr 2012 10:13 AM PDT It's a fact of life: all of the manufacturer graphics cards are built using the same core GPUs from Nvidia and AMD, so for a card to stand out, it needs to bring a little something special to the table. Some manufacturers go for sky-high overclocks; others go for unique cooling systems. MSI offers both with the newly announced GTX 680 Twin Frozr III OC.
As you might have guessed from the name, the big draw of the GTX 680 Twin Frozr III OC is MSI's third generation Twin Frozr custom cooling system, which rocks a pair of 80mm fans with grooved propeller blades along with several nickel-plated copper heatpipes. MSI claims that the Twin Frozr tech keeps the card 22 degrees (Celsius) cooler and 10.2 decibels quieter than a reference GTX 680 under full load. The Twin Frozr design has a decent reputation for keeping cards, well, Frozr'ed, so it'll be exciting to see how the GTX 680 Twin Frozer III OC actually performs. Of course, you can't have the "the GTX 680 Twin Frozer III OC" without the "OC." The video card rocks a modest overclock at 1058MHz base and 1124MHz boost speeds. Memory speeds -- and pretty much everything else -- stick to reference specs. Price? Availability? Your guess is as good as ours. MSI didn't talk specifics in its press release. Hey, MSI fans: Are you interested in this or holding out for a Lightning variant? |
| Multiple Fingers Point To An April 23 Launch Date For Ivy Bridge Posted: 12 Apr 2012 10:08 AM PDT
An inside source narrowed down that week-long window to a single day, CNET reports: April 23rd. A separate report from DigiTimes says the same thing. Quad-core chips are expected to be the first Ivy Bridge CPUs to roll out, followed by power-efficient mobile processors. All the usual suspects -- including HP, Dell, Lenovo, Sony, Toshiba, Acer, and Asus -- are expected to unveil new or spit-shined laptops with Ivy Bridge CPUs starting in May. Have you been living under a rock and now find yourself wondering what all the hub-bub is about? Check out some early benchmarks for the Core i7-3770K Ivy Bridge proc. |
| Court Rules Downloading Source Code is Not the Same as Stealing Physical Property Posted: 12 Apr 2012 08:32 AM PDT
Aleynikov found himself in hot water after downloading proprietary source code from Goldman Sachs' high-frequency trading (HFT) computers and then uploading the code to servers in Germany before hightailing it out of Wall Street in 2009, PCWorld reports via IDG News. He was subsequently convicted of espionage under the Economic Espionage Act (EEA) of 1996 and found to be in violation of the NSPA by a jury trial, landing him a 97-month prison sentence with a three years of supervised release and a $12,500 fine. The appeals court overturned the ruling. "Because Aleynikov did not 'assume physical control' over anything when he took the source code, and because he did not thereby 'deprive [Goldman] of its use,' Aleynikov did not violate the NSPA," Chief Judge Dennis Jacobs wrote in the three-judge panel's unanimous decision, according to CNet. "We decline to stretch or update statutory words of plain and ordinary meaning in order to better accommodate the digital age." Jacobs did acknowledge that the downloaded code was valuable and that "the enormous profits the system yielded for Goldman depended on no one else having it," but since the system "was not designed to enter or pass in commerce, or to make something that does, Aleynikov's theft of source code relating to that system was not an offense under the EEA." Image Credit: wallpapers.jurko.net
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| Computer Sales Continue to Defy Post PC Era Posted: 12 Apr 2012 07:12 AM PDT
IDC says worldwide PC shipments rose 2.3 percent during the first quarter of 2012 compared to the same quarter one year earlier, besting the research firm's February projection of a 0.9 percent year-on-year increase. A variety of factors led to IDC's comparatively low projection, including the lingering hard drive shortage, a weak economy, competition from the burgeoning tablet market and other competing devices, and the big fat question mark that hangs over Windows 8 and its Metro UI. "PC market growth remained limited in the first quarter as HDD supply and other factors limited demand," said Loren Loverde, IDC vice president of Worldwide Consumer Device Trackers. "Nevertheless, history has shown that periods of slower growth are followed by recovery as improving technologies make replacements as well as new purchases increasingly compelling. As a result, we expect PC shipments to pick up significantly by the fourth quarter and beyond as HDD supply and pricing are normalized, Windows 8 is launched, and replacements pick up. "Slow growth in the U.S. shows that despite interesting and new form factors like all-in-one (AIO) desktop PCs and Ultrabook– class notebook PCs, the market remains conservative and focused on replacements. Commercial buyers are still cautious, while consumers are evaluating multiple products and may be waiting for the release of Microsoft Windows 8 later this year. The U.S. PC market is likely to remain constrained at least until the launch of Windows 8, which is expected in the fourth quarter of 2012. We expect vendors, retailers, and channel partners to be working very hard this year to focus their product lines and their general operations as they prepare for the year-end holiday season, because that alone will likely determine if there is any growth at all in the U.S. market in 2012." If Windows 8 is received well, PC shipments could pick up in a big way by the end of the year. Tying into the potential explosion of PC sales is the fact that Intel continues to push the Ultrabook form factor with 75 new devices on tap for a 2012 release, some of which will sport hybrid designs that can double as a touchscreen tablet. As far as market share goes, Hewlett-Packard continues to lead the pack, accounting for 18 percent of all PCs shipped around the world. Lenovo is in second place with a 13.4 percent share after posting a remarkable 43.7 percent year-on-year growth rate. Image Credit: Flickr (believekevin) |
| Verizon Succumbs to Peer Pressure, Starts Charging $30 Phone Upgrade Fee Posted: 12 Apr 2012 06:44 AM PDT
VZW claims the $30 charge will help it to "provide customers with the level of service and support they have come to expect which includes Wireless Workshops, online educational tools, and consultations with experts who provide advice and guidance on devices that are more sophisticated than ever." To be fair, this isn't unique to VZW, which is actually the last of the major U.S. carriers to implement one. T-Mobile charges $18 for the privilege, and both Sprint and AT&T charge a $36 upgrade fee, AT&T having recently doubled the charge from $18. In other words, there's little-to-no chance VZW will reverse course the way it did with the proposed $2 "convenience charge" for one-time bill payments using a debit or credit card online or by phone. The upgrade fee will go into effect starting April 22, 2012, so if you're eligible for and contemplating a contract renewal, now is the time to do it. Image Credit: Flickr (Ian P. Miller) |
| Caine's Arcade: 9-Year-Old Builds Intricate Game Gallery Out of Cardboard Posted: 12 Apr 2012 06:19 AM PDT
Caine's Arcade is rudimentary, sure, but it's also extraordinarily detailed and leaps and bounds ahead of the cardboard computer case former Maximum PC Associate Editor and Contributing Writer, David Murphy, built as part of 'The $500 PC Build-Off' challenge. There are games of challenge, tickets that spew out of slits in the cardboard (with Caine pushing them through), prizes, and even a security system to make sure no one abuses the $2 fun pass, which is good for 500 plays, versus getting four plays for a buck. The kid even figured out a way to build a claw machine using not much more than rope. This kid is the real deal, and lest there be any doubt, he made business cards and designed a shirt with "Staff" on the front and "Caine's Arcade" on the back (the video explains he was reluctant to wear the shirt to school because the other kids didn't believe he had his own arcade). His first customer happened to be Nirvan Mullick, an "award winning filmmaker," among other things, who was shopping a door handle for 1996 Toyota Corolla. He recorded the video that would go viral and also organized a flashmob to get the kid more customers. As mentioned, everything about this story is full of win, culminating in a scholarship fund Mullick setup for Caine on CainesArcade.com, which has raised over $110,000 so far. Check out the video below: |
When is an Indilinx Everest SSD Controller not an Indilinx Everest SSD Controller? Pretty much all the time, as it turns out -- at least physically. OCZ purchased Indilinx back in 2011 and has shipped two generations of Everest-powered SSDs; the 
Powerful quantum computing and instantaneous long-distance quantum communication (ala the Normandy's quantum entanglement communicator in Mass Effect) sound well and good, but in reality, that sort of technology will never blossom unless we figure out how to create working quantum networks first. Oh wait! We have. Yesterday, scientists from the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics in Germany announced that they've created the first quantum link between two atoms located far away from one another physically. 
The next generation of GPUs is already here, and all signs point to the next generation of CPUs gearing up to join the party sooner rather than later. AMD's Trinity APUs aren't expected to drop until sometime in May, but we're hearing more details about Intel's Ivy Bridge launch. It's basically accepted as fact that the chips are shipping at the end of this month; now, a specific date has surfaced.
Former Goldman Sachs programmer Sergey Aleynikov is a free man after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York deemed that stealing source code isn't the same as stealing physical property, and therefore Aleynikov was wrongly charged under the National Stolen Property Act (NSPA). If Aleynikov is to be punished, it will have to be based on copyright law and other intellectual property (IP) legislation, the judge said. Let's retrace Aleynikov's steps.
Lest there be any doubt about how we feel about the so-called post PC era, Maximum PC Deputy Editor, Gordon Mah Ung, 
Wireless carriers have a tendency to roll out the red carpet for new subscribers, but once you're part of the family, well, don't expect to receive special treatment. Highlighting this observation is the fact that Verizon Wireless is getting ready to implement a $30 upgrade fee for existing customers who upgrade to a shiny new subsidized smartphone with a renewed two-year service agreement. Apparently 24 months of data fees is no longer good enough.
There's a new viral video making the rounds, and it's about a 9-year-old kid who built his own arcade out of cardboard boxes in his dad's used auto parts store in East L.A. The whole idea is full of win in so many ways that it's difficult to know where to begin, which is okay because the video pretty much speaks for itself, but there are some things definitely worth pointing out. Let's start with his age. It bears repeating that little Caine is just 9 years old. Instead of spending his summer vacation hanging out with other kids his age or holed up in his room playing video games, he was slicing and dicing cardboard in his dad's shop en route to one of the coolest DIY modding projects in recent memory.| You are subscribed to email updates from Maximum PC - All Articles To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
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