drag2share: This Stunning Image Shows Us The Future of Climate Models
This technicolor swirl may look like an artist's acid trip, but what you're actually looking at is the next generation of high-resolution climate models.
Monday, April 06, 2015
Friday, April 03, 2015
Samsung's latest flagship 4K TV starts at $6,500
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2015/04/02/samsung-4k-tv-2015/
Samsung's latest and greatest ultra-HD television will cost you big bucks -- but it's also got a healthy selection of affordable options among its latest round of 4K TV sets. The JS9500 SUHD TV (the "S" denotes its premium UHD range), effectively the Korean electronics giants' crown jewel for 2015, will start at $6,500 when it lands later this month. It sports a curved screen with nanocrystal technology (something that appears in all of its SUHD sets), a full array local dimming backlight (which helps with contrast and black levels) and the company's "PurColor" technology, which delivers more vivid colors. You'll be able to snag the JS9500 in 65-inch and 88-inch sizes -- though the company isn't saying just how much the larger version will cost. Most likely, that'll be upwards of $10,000, as that's the price for the 77-inch JS9100 SUHD TV.
As you'd expect, the rest of Samsung's 4K TV lineup gets progressively cheaper. The JS9000 curved SUHD starts at $3,500 for the 48-inch model, while the 65-inch version will run you $5,000. That's a $1,500 discount from the JS9500's comparable set, but you also lose that model's fancy backlighting technology. If you're still not sold on curved TVs, Samsung's also got a flat SUHD, the JS8500, starting at $3,000 for the 55-inch model. And if you're looking for the cheapest option, the JU6700 curved UHD starts at just $950 for the 40-inch entry.
While Samsung's 4K pricing is pretty much on-par with last year's high-end sets, which went for around $5,000 for 65-inch entries, it's nice to see a variety of options at the lower end of the spectrum. There's also more of a reason to snag a 4K set this year, with a wider availability of UHD content coming from Netflix, Amazon, and others. Samsung's also a founding member of the UHD Alliance, which is focused on building up the 4K ecosystem. On the software side, all of the company's 2015 Smart TVs are running its Tizen OS, which powers a snappier user interface alongside its octa-core processors.
To match its new range of curved TVs, Samsung also offered up details on its latest round of curved soundbars. They start at $500 for the J6000 soundbar and wireless sub, and run all the way up $1,300 for the J8500, which supports high-definition audio and fits 65-inch and 78-inch sets. If you want a more realistic surround sound setup, you could also pair them with the company's new omnidirectional Radiant 360 "ring speaker."
OnLive, the first company to try streaming games over the internet, is shutting down
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/onlive-rip-2015-4
Six years ago, OnLive came up with a radical idea: With a good enough Internet connection, you could stream video games from the data center into your home, the same way millions do with Netflix Instant Watch movies today.
Soon, OnLive will be no more, as it sells most of its important technologies to Sony and prepares to shut down service by the end of the month.
It's been a long and tumultuous journey for OnLive. Funded by companies like Warner Brothers, Autodesk, and AT&T, the service launched in mid-2010 at a price of $14.95/month plus the cost of individual games (that monthly fee would soon be waived).
Games could be played from any PC, Mac, phone, or tablet. More recently, Amazon added OnLive support to its Fire TV and Fire Stick media players.
The problem was that in 2010, not enough Americans had the kind of broadband Internet connections needed for the high-velocity world of video games. And even when more people did get fast connections, people generally preferred to buy their games through more traditional channels — after all, you can play those without an Internet connection at all, and you don't have to worry about performance issues.
OnLive tried to reverse its fortunes, including launching a virtual desktop service that would let customers access Windows apps in their browsers, but it wasn't enough.
In 2012, OnLive's management took desperate measures: It laid off its entire workforce at once, entered into a proceeding known as the "Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors" that left employees with worthless options, and sold all the company's assets to a private equity firm for a mere $4.8 million, a tremendous dip from OnLive's one-time $1.2 billion valuation.
In 2014, the company came back to life with a service called CloudLift, that took a player's existing games and let them continue it f! rom any device.
Apparently, that didn't work either, and on April 30th, all of OnLive's cloud services will be shut down, forever. Sony is snapping up OnLive's patents, which only makes sense, given that Sony bought a similar service called Gaikai for the technology that lets it stream games directly to PlayStation game systems.
SEE ALSO: The original Xbox was almost free
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Thursday, April 02, 2015
Acer's Chrome OS all-in-one is the first with a touchscreen
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2015/04/01/acer-chromebase/
Intrigued by the idea of an all-in-one Chrome OS computer, but were hoping for something a little more exciting than the likes of LG's Chromebase? You've got it: Acer has just unveiled its own Chromebase. The system has a 21.5-inch 1080p display like its LG rival, but it's the first to include a touchscreen for those times you want to share input (or just can't be bothered to reach for the mouse). It's also running on NVIDIA's Tegra K1 chip rather than the speedier Intel Celeron of its competitor, although that's not necessarily a bad thing if you're looking for a quiet, low-powered PC. Whether or not it has the lower cost to match is up in the air, however. Acer ships its Chromebase to Asia and North America in the second quarter of the year, but it hasn't divulged pricing just yet.
Source: Acer
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Now You Can Buy a Chromebook For Just $150 (And They're Getting Better)
Source: http://gizmodo.com/now-you-can-buy-a-chromebook-for-just-150-and-theyre-1694699006
Five years ago, Google CEO Eric Schmidt proclaimed that laptops would become disposable. We’re nearly there. Starting today, you can buy a new Chromebook for just $150—the cheapest price ever. And this spring, there’s a $250 Chromebook coming that looks pretty incredible.
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