Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Sunday, May 29, 2011

NVIDIA refreshes mobile graphics with GeForce GTX 560M, attracts ASUS, MSI, Toshiba and Alienware

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/29/nvidia-refreshes-mobile-graphics-with-geforce-gtx-560m-attr/

If you've enjoyed NVIDIA's fine tradition of merely bumping along its GPUs time and again and affixing a new badge, you'll like the GeForce GTX 560M -- it's much like last year's GTX 460M, but with more bang for the buck than ever. ASUS, MSI, Alienware, Toshiba and Clevo have all committed to new notebooks bearing the graphics processor in light of the potent performance NVIDIA claims it will bring: Namely, those same 192 CUDA cores (now clocked at 1550MHz) and up to 3GB of GDDR5 memory (now clocked at 1250MHz, with a 192-bit bus) should enable the latest games to run at playable framerates on a 1080p screen, with maximum detail (save antialiasing). Of course, that also assumes you've got a recent quad-core Sandy Bridge processor and gobs upon gobs of RAM, but NVIDIA also says that with the built-in Optimus switchable graphics, those same potent laptops should be able to manage five hours of battery life while idling.

If you're looking for the bare minimum in discrete graphics, however, NVIDIA's also got a refresh there, as the GeForce GT 520MX bumps up all the clock speeds of the GT 520M. When can you expect a mobile GPU to knock the GTX 485M off its silicon throne, though? Glad you asked: a chart shows a "Next-gen GTX" coming late this year. See what NVIDIA says the GTX 560M's capable of in the gallery below and a video after the break.

Continue reading NVIDIA refreshes mobile graphics with GeForce GTX 560M, attracts ASUS, MSI, Toshiba and Alienware

NVIDIA refreshes mobile graphics with GeForce GTX 560M, attracts ASUS, MSI, Toshiba and Alienware originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 29 May 2011 20:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Friday, May 27, 2011

Smiling Stool Gives Hope

Source: http://www.yankodesign.com/2011/05/26/smiling-stool-gives-hope/

The Smile Stool is the result of a study on the declining Indonesian furniture industry, that in recent years has had incredible difficulty competing its handmade craftsmanship against China’s mass manufactured products. In addition, the more than 3500 Indonesian companies often end up with huge amounts of excess material that often ends up as firewood. Using the waste in the construction & streamlining a simple assembly process, this sustainable design gives hope to the industry & provides a solution for the survival of the local craftsman.

Designer: Fitorio Leksono

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How Many Spam Mails Does It Take to Sell $100 of Viagra? [Factoid]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5805930/how-many-spam-mails-does-it-take-to-sell-100-of-viagra

12.5 million. It's a staggering number to just get a ridiculous $100. Unfortunately, it's worth for the spammers—billions of mails are sent every day by zombie computers all around the world. Fortunately, there may be a simple solution.

A new research paper by a team of Californian computer scientists shows the way: According to their research on almost one billion messages, 95 of all credit card sales generated by spam mails are handled by three banks from Azerbaijan, Denmark and the West Indies.

That means that, if you get those banks to cut business with the illegal spammers—and chase any other financial institutions that may spring to take their position, I guess—then you will be able to kill the spam. No way to collect money means no business, as Stefan Savage of the University of California, San Diego, explains to NYT's John Markoff:

In the end, spam is an advertising business. However, it only makes sense if you can find a way to take people's money. This means credit cards. Credit cards are the only payment platform that is ubiquitously available to Western consumers and can be used for Internet commerce.

It makes total sense. If you kill that critical part, it's game over for the spammers. Of course, that means that the banks and the credit card companies would stop collecting their juicy commissions. But, for the good of the worldwide communications, I'm sure every authority in the world would be willing to punch some fat cats on the bracket. [UCSD (PDF) via New York Times]

A New Netflix Update for Android is Here [Blip]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5806103/a-new-netflix-update-for-android-is-here

Ooh, a new version of Netflix landed in the Android Market today. The update enabled streaming on the LG Revolution, Motorola Droid and Casio G'zOne Commando. Don't shake your head in disbelief, you read that list correctly. The Commando really did get the update before the flasghip Motorola Xoom. [Android Market via Android Central]

Buffalo's 256GB SSD comes with 6GBps SATA interface, silly price tag

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/26/buffalo-introduces-256gb-ssd-with-sata-6gbps-interface/

The SSD market is about to get a little more crowded, now that Buffalo has unveiled a new, 256GB fatty. The company's SSD-N256S/MC400 has a SATA 6Gbps interface, supports multi-level cell NAND Flash memory and boasts read and write speeds of up to 405 MB/s and 223 MB/s, respectively. If you're interested in grabbing one, you'll have to shell out a cool ¥72,200 ($882). Or, you could get an even faster SSD for less money. The choice is yours.

Buffalo's 256GB SSD comes with 6GBps SATA interface, silly price tag originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 May 2011 11:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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