AMD launches Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition, demands rematch with NVIDIA

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/22/amd-radeon-hd-7970-ghz-edition/

If you've been missing out on the graphics card wars of late, then here's a quick rundown. AMD launched its high-end $549 Radeon HD 7970 at the end of last year, and it reigned comfortably for a few months until NVIDIA came out with the masterful GeForce GTX 680. That would have been the end of the matter, at least for this product cycle, except for one crucial factor: time. Having reached the market so much earlier, AMD has now had six months to not only tweak its drivers but also its 28nm silicon. That process has already culminated in 1GHz cards at the low- and mid-ranges, and today it leads to the (slightly predictable) announcement of a Radeon HD 7970 'GHz Edition' -- priced at $499 and expected to be available from a range of board makers from next week. To keep you amused in the meantime, there's plenty of detail in the gallery below and after the break.

Gallery: Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition official slide deck

Continue reading AMD launches Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition, demands rematch with NVIDIA

AMD launches Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition, demands rematch with NVIDIA originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 Jun 2012 00:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Valve announces Steam for Schools, helps teachers create educational Portal 2 levels

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/22/steam-for-schools-helps-teachers-create-educational-portal-levels/

Who ever said being a scientific guinea pig couldn't be educational? With Steam for Schools, teachers can now use Portal 2's level editor to create lessons focused on boosting critical thinking, spatial reasoning and problem solving skills. Announced at the Games for Change festival in New York City, the educator edition of Steam comes with a free copy of Portal 2 and the Portal 2 Puzzle Maker. Students and teachers alike can use the tools to create puzzles, but distribution is handled by teachers alone. (That's right, kids -- no level sharing unless the teach says so.) An accompanying website serves as a gathering place for teachers to collaborate, and aims to provide sample lesson plans centered on science, technology, engineering and math. If you're an educator who can't wait to bring a Portal-assisted physics lesson to life, see the links below to sign up for the ongoing beta. Now if you'll excuse us, we're off to "study."

Valve announces Steam for Schools, helps teachers create educational Portal 2 levels originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 Jun 2012 05:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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All-carbon solar cell draws power from near-infrared light, our energy future is literally that much brighter

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/22/all-carbon-solar-cell-draws-power-from-near-infrared-light/

What's this orange-like patch, you ask? It's a layer of carbon nanotubes on silicon, and it might just be instrumental to getting a lot more power out of solar cells than we're used to. Current solar power largely ignores near-infrared light and wastes about 40 percent of the potential energy it could harness. A mix of carbon nanotubes and buckyballs developed by MIT, however, can catch that near-infrared light without degrading like earlier composites. The all-carbon formula doesn't need to be thickly spread to do its work, and it simply lets visible light through -- it could layer on top of a traditional solar cell to catch many more of the sun's rays. Most of the challenge, as we often see for solar cells, is just a matter of improving the energy conversion rate. Provided the researchers can keep refining the project, we could be looking at a big leap in solar power efficiency with very little extra footprint, something we'd very much like to see on the roof of a hybrid sedan.

All-carbon solar cell draws power from near-infrared light, our energy future is literally that much brighter originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 Jun 2012 05:52:00 EDT. Please see our te! rms for use of feeds.

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AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition review roundup: a big, bad bruiser of a graphics card

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/22/amd-radeon-hd-7970-ghz-edition-review-roundup/

You know the routine: we looked this revamped card's spec sheet a few hours ago, so now it's time to find out how it fared in independent tests and whether it's worth the $499 outlay. On the face of it, this powerhouse of a card ought to be a champ, since it comes $50 cheaper than the original's launch price (although that non-GHz Edition has now dropped to $449) and brings crucial improvements in clock speed and memory bandwidth. In practice? Well, it wins -- but only on points. Read on for more.

Continue reading AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition review roundup: a big, bad bruiser of a graphics card

AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition review roundup: a big, bad bruiser of a graphics card originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 Jun 2012 06:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Did a Car Company Really Just Make the Best Password Manager We've Seen? [Video]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5920197/did-a-car-company-really-just-make-the-best-password-manager-weve-seen

Imagine if when you sat down at your computer it recognized you and unlocked all of your web accounts. No more logging in to anything. That's the promise of this new app by Ford. Yes, the car company.

Like other companies Ford has been using NFC keys for a while. When you're close to your car, it unlocks. So easy. Now the company has created Ford Keyfree, a Chrome extension which does essentially the same thing for your passwords. Your "key" is your smartphone. When you're close to your car, your phone talks to the Chrome extension via Bluetooth and automatically enters all of your passwords. When you walk away, the extension logs you out. Brilliant.

Ford Keyfree is a slick, intelligent piece of work. It turns out Detroit CAN innovate. As you can see from the video above it's obviously a marketing gimmick, and there are some practical security concerns. Isn't it kind of weird that all someone needs to get into my sensitive accounts is my phone? What's the proximity radius? Furthermore, since the app uses Bluetooth, it'll put a strain on your battery.

The app is only available in France right now. Ford reportedly plans to bring its password manager to America soon. [Fast Company]

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