Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Monday, November 17, 2008

Say hello to Gmail voice and video chat

Source: http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/say-hello-to-gmail-voice-and-video-chat.html

Tuesday, November 11, 2008 12:18 PM

Posted by Justin Uberti, Software Engineer

I'm a big user of Gmail chat. Being able to switch from email to chat as needed, all within the same app, is really great for productivity. But people can only type so fast, and even with ournew emoticons, there are still some things that just can't be expressed in a chat message.

That's why today we're launching voice and video chat -- right inside Gmail. We've tried to make this an easy-to-use, seamless experience, with high-quality audio and video -- all for free. All you have to do is download and install the voice and video plugin and we take care of the rest. And in the spirit of open communications, we designed this feature using Internet standards such as XMPP, RTP, and H.264, which means that third-party applications and networks can choose to interoperate with Gmail voice and video chat.

continue reading about gmail video chat ...

New in Labs: Calendar and Docs gadgets

Source: http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/new-in-labs-calendar-and-docs-gadgets.html

Monday, October 27, 2008 6:57 PM

Posted by Dan Pupius, Gmail engineer

Gmail Labs has been a really fun way to easily try out new ideas and get some of our pet feature requests implemented quickly. We wanted to take this to the next level and let you start adding your own stuff to Gmail. Today we're launching a few Labs experiments that let you add gadgets to the left-nav, next to Chat and Labels.

To get you started, we've worked with the engineers from the Calendar and Docs teams on two highly requested features: a simple way to see your Google Calendar agenda and get an alert when you have a meeting, and a gadget that shows a list of your recently accessed Google Docs and lets you search across all of your documents right from within Gmail.

There's a third Lab that allows you to add any gadget by pasting in the URL of its XML spec file (e.g. http://www.google.com/ig/modules/youtube_videos.xml). We realize this isn't very user friendly right now; it's a sandbox mainly aimed at developers who want to play around with gadgets in Gmail. We're not tied to the left-nav as a primary way to extend Gmail -- in fact we think it is relatively limited and doesn't offer scalable real estate. There are also some downsides to the iframe-style Gadgets we're using today -- they can sometimes slow down the page. We're fanatical about speed, so we'll be keeping a close eye on performance.

How Core i7 works on the inside: +vdimm +i7

How Core i7 works on the inside
Does high Vdimm kill Core i7? Some say yes, some say no... for those of you who remember amd going IMC some years back, you might remember that the 90nm ...

Source: http://forum.msi.com.tw/index.php?topic=121604.msg918308

Does high Vdimm kill Core i7?
Some say yes, some say no...
for those of you who remember amd going IMC some years back, you might remember that the 90nm shrink brought some problems with it... high vdimm could kill or degrade the integrated memory controller. well how did we work around that back then? vcore had to be increased as well to keep the vcore vdimm ratio more or less the same and things were fine. Later when amd moved to K10, the same thing happened again with some imcs dieing at 1.9v ddr2 vdimm if vcore and other related voltages were kept low.
well for amds imc implementation the memory controller was actually powered by vcore, so thats most likely why the vcore vdimm ratio had to be maintained. for nehalem or core i7 the memory controller is powered by vtt...

Intel recommends a max vdimm of 1.65v, which is curiously 1.5x vtt...
Several people reported that running higher than default vtt plus higher than 1.65v vdimm works just fine. how come?
From what i know about manufacturing processes, you have to pick the target voltage you want to work with at some point, and then decide what transistor design to use. some transistors can take high voltages but switch slow and are rather beefy, others are small and can switch much faster but will degrade with higher voltages. which is exactly what people reported with vdimm damaged core i7 cpus. one way to work around this and stress the transistors less is by not grounding them to ground but to some other voltage.

I dont know why or how, but vdimm is definately related to vtt, and the fact that intel recommends a max vdimm of 1.5x vtt is not a coincidence if you ask me... its not clear whether this 1.5x ratio exists and if it has to be maintained, or if vdimm has to be within a certain voltage range to vtt, but in either case the resulting highest vdimm/vtt ratios are about the same... once we have relatively cheap 920 cpus available and people can risk burning a cpus im sure it will only be a matter of weeks until we know more about vdimm/vtt on core i7

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Intel Core i7 CPUs reappear on NewEgg

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/16/intel-core-i7-cpus-reappear-on-newegg/

Filed under: Desktops

Remember those Core i7 processors that showed up -- ever so briefly -- on NewEgg a few days ago, only to promptly disappear, leaving us to ponder what we'd done wrong? Well, even though they're not slated to officially hit shelves until November 17th, we've heard from a slew of vigilant tipsters (hipsters?) that they're back. The prices are the same as we saw before, but you might want to check 'em out yourself right away, just in case they disappear again and you're forced to wait until tomorrow.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Intel Core i7 CPUs reappear on NewEgg originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 16 Nov 2008 13:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Gizmodo's 20 Essential iPhone Apps [IPhone Apps]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/W6GEsgSMhFY/gizmodos-20-essential-iphone-apps

It's been four months almost to the day since iPhone 2.0 came, and we've been hitting the App Store hard every week ever since to sift through what's new in iPhone App land. This week, we've decided to hold back for a second, take a breath, and compile a different kind of list: the apps that many of us on staff actually use on a regular basis. If you have a new iPhone or iTouch just waiting to be filled up, or you feel like you may be missing some essentials in your collection, this is the list for you.

Pageonce Personal Assistant: Combines myriad online accounts, from banking and investing to bill paying to airline frequent fliers. Rather than hit 15 different sites for your montly bill pay/pain time, use this single app.

AOL Radio: Four letters: KCRW. AOL Radio pipes in the legendary LA station and for this we are thankful.

Fring: The only IM/messaing client you need. Covers Google Talk, AIM, Skype, MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, Twitter, plus VoIP calls over Wi-Fi if you're low on minutes at home or in the coffee shop.

Remote: One of the first apps we saw, and still among the best in terms of usefulness. If you use iTunes frequently at home and especially if you listen away from your desk via a stereo hookup or Airport Express, you need the Remote.

AirSharing: Our favorite file storage app—shoots files to the iPhone's flash memory via Wi-Fi for storage, transport, and easy retrieval.

Yelp: Taps into Yelp's community reviews to find good bars and restaurants based on your location. Essential for cities like San Francisco and New York where Yelp reviews are solid. When I'm out in the city and need a drink ASAP or the restaurant I was planning on going is too crowded/sucks, Yelp is what I reach for.

Routesy: Can't live in San Francisco without this app. I use it everyday to see when trains / busses are coming. Even if I am sitting at my computer I choose to look up the train / buss schedule via Routesy on my iPhone because it's just that much simpler.

City Transit: Ditto here for NYC. Even for locals, quick access to a subway map is always a good thing, plus constantly changing service outages are! impossi ble to keep track of, without an app like this. And if you're feeling old-timey, a vintage MTA map is here too.

Pandora: Best internet radio app, hands down. Smartly auto-suggests music based on other artists you like. Both on the go and while at home. Streams well over EDGE and 3G. Free. What more could you ask for?

VNC Lite: View and fully control my computer from anywhere, as long as I am on the same network. So I can basically be at my computer without actually being at my computer...

PanoLab: Who knew multitouch is the perfect interface for stitching photos together into panoramas? It is. Plus if the photo you just took doesn't work, toss it out and take another one immediately. A paid version adds even more features.

Bloom: Generative, ambient music by Brian Eno. If I need to say more, it's also a mini-sequencer: Drop your finger on the liquidy pastel screen, play a note, make simple loops. Music For Airports that you can make yourself. In an airport, even.

Shazam: This just doesn't get old: hold your phone to the air to grab the song playing at the supermarket (or being hummed by your friend), and have it identified in a few seconds. We live in a privileged age.

Simplify Media: Stream your home machine's iTunes library and those of up to 30 friends to your phone. This app lives up to its name. Forget worries of filling up 8GB, or even 16.

Galcon: It's Risk, but in space, and instead of six hours it takes two minutes and you don't have to be shitfaced to enjoy it.

i.TV: Provides you with an elegant TV guide, movie listings and showtimes, and Netflix queue management all in one app.

MotionX Poker: The dice rolling in MotionX Poker is one of the most accurate and painstakingly simulated dice physics engines ever built. And it shows. Not a substitute for real dice behind your neighborhood bodega, but the closest thing possible.

Snow Reports: If you fait du ski/snowboard, ! Snow Rep orts will let you know when you should drop everything and head to Alpine Mountain for the weekend.

Google Earth: The same amazing Earth touring app found on the desktop, now spinnable via multi touch. Honestly if someone told me two years ago I would have a functional Google Earth app on my phone, I wouldn't have believed them. This is now.

Sketches: Brian likes this app because deep down, he's just a Japanese schoolgirl who wants to slap sticker graphics on photos of his dog. If you share this desire, Sketches: it's for you too.

Have an app you can't live without that didn't make our list? Awesome! Tell us in the comments so everyone can check it out. And for even more apps: see our previous weekly roundups here, and check out our original iPhone App Review Marathon. Have a good weekend everybody.