tech blog

The radio staggers against the backspace!

Rumors have been creeping up all around the world wide web that the next generation ds might house an NVIDIA tegra processor and that the contract between nvidia and Nintendo has been settled and the console is under development.
What could we expect from a blend of the powerful tegra and nintendo?Possibly a very long battery life for its been rumored that the new DS will use the 2nd gen tegra built with 45nm technology meaning probably a very long battery life and amazing graphics performance..Could we probably expect an xbox near-style graphics?

keep checking back for more updates :D

Omg, can you imagine a time machine blender?!

i just installed the much awaited gta 4...but it turned out to be very disappointing.There were numerous flaws.It took a bit of time to figure out how to start the game without getting annoying errors.When it came to playing the game, there were lots of missing textures and cars seemed to hover over the road.The game was extremely power hungry and my 8600gt could only run it at 19fps at medium high settings.Rockstar is to release a patch over the next few days to patch up all the hole.here are some of the screens from the buggy part..

hello ppl,


i recently took sme websapce and am building a tutorial site for various kinds of tutorials...I have set up a bit today the basic layout n stuff!

so please do give it a visit and post your comments..


http://67.225.157.75/~liighttc/

A gun that fires variable speed bullets and which can be set to kill, wound or just inflict a bruise is being built by a US toy manufacturer. The weapon is based on technology used to propel toy rockets.
Lund and Company Invention, a toy design studio based near Chicago, makes toy rockets that are powered by burning hydrogen obtained by electrolysing water. Now the company is being funded by the US army to adapt the technology to fire bullets instead.
The US Army are interested in arming soldiers with weapons that can be switched between lethal and non-lethal modes. They asked Company Invention to make a rifle that can fire bullets at various speeds.
Sniper versionThe new weapon, called the Variable Velocity Weapon System or VWS, lets the soldier to use the same rifle for crowd control and combat, by altering the muzzle velocity. It could be loaded with "rubber bullets" designed only to deliver blunt impacts on a person, full-speed lethal rounds or projectiles somewhere between the two.
Bruce Lund, the company's CEO, says the gun works by mixing a liquid or gaseous fuel with air in a combustion chamber behind the bullet. This determines the explosive capability of the propellant and consequently the velocity of the bullet as it leaves the gun. "Projectile velocity varies from non-lethal at 10 metres, to lethal at 100 metres or more, as desired," says Lund.
The company says that the weapon produces less heat and light than traditional guns. It can also be made lighter and could have a high power setting for long-range sniping.
Police already fire non-lethal projectiles from standard shotguns. These are known as "beanbag" rounds, bags of lead shot which will knock down a suspect at ranges of up to 10 metres. They are termed "non-lethal", but can cause bruising or even broken ribs.
'Handgun to Howitzer'Lund says that the new weapon system will use different types of bullet for lethal and non-lethal use. Police forces already use separate shotguns for non-lethal loads – typically marking them with bright orange tape to prevent any confusion – so this shouldn't be an issue.
The existing VWS design is a .50 calibre (12.7 mm) rifle weapon, but Lund says the technology can be scaled to any size, "handgun to Howitzer".
Steve Wright, a security expert at Leeds Metropolitan University, UK warns of the potential risk of variable lethality.
"In a high-stress, high-personal-risk zone, there will be a real temptation for soldiers to turn the tuneable lethality switch up to 'kill' mode so that all doubt is removed."
A demonstration version will be ready within six months, and the VWS could go into production within 18 months of approval, according to Lund and Company.
Weapons Technology - Keep up with the latest innovations in our cutting edge special report.

via- news scientist

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd and Symbian Limited today announced the Samsung INNOV8, (model : i8510, pronounced [in-uh-veyt]). This ultimate entertainment mobile phone is equipped with high-end features and multimedia including an 8 megapixel camera, internet browsing and ergonomics. This is Samsung’s eighth mobile phone based on Symbian OS™, the global market-leading open mobile operating system for mobile phones.


INNOV8 brings users a ‘cinema in your pocket’ experience through access to a rich suite of applications from the S60 applications library, they can watch videos, including DivX files, view pictures and play two exclusively free embedded 3D games on the 2.8” LCD display. With HSDPA connectivity at 7.2Mbps and seamless connection through Wi-Fi, Samsung INNOV8’s optical mouse and easy navigation enables users’ quick internet browsing, alongside GPS and geo-tagging.

Earlier this year Samsung launched the G810 with a 5 megapixel camera running on Symbian OS™ v9.2. Some key multimedia and security features include audio and video capture and recording framework, still image conversion, 3D graphics support, application capability management and application data caging. In 2007, Samsung launched six mobile phones based on Symbian OS, including the Samsung i400, i450, i458, i520, i550 and i560. All seven phones are currently available in the market

VIA today held a press conference to announce the new Mini-ITX 2.0 concept and its alliance with Nvidia. During the conference we were all treated to a demonstration of an a optimized PC, a VIA Nano based Mini-ITX board using a Nvidia graphics card running Crysis. VIA's Mini-ITX form factor is over 6 years old now and was created primarily with the embedded market in mind. This demonstration is an excellent example of where Mini-ITX is heading: Full featured platforms that include PCI Express x16 support for optimized graphics and HD video.



http://www.technovoyance.com/index.php/Mini-ITX-2.0-VIA-Nano-Plays-Crysis.html

a bionic machine that lets you:

1) It takes up to 200 pounds without impeding the wearer (Strength Augmentation)

2) It decreases its wearer's metabolic cost (Endurance Augmentation).

While the first characteristic requires little explanation, the 2nd characteristic is a compelling and a competitive advantage of HULC™ completely absent in any other exoskeleton system. During some preliminary evaluations, the oxygen consumption of the users walking at a speed of 2 MPH, was decreased by 5%~12% when using our HULC™ without a payload. When the users carried a load, the effect was more pronounced. The oxygen consumption of these users carrying an 81 pound approach load at a speed of 2MPH was decreased by about 15% when using the prototype HULC™.

The reduction of the wearer's metabolic cost is of paramount importance for long duration missions. This is true because excessive oxygen consumption leads to premature fatigue even if the exoskeleton supports the load. In fact, a very recent BAA from the Natick Soldier System Center requests proposals to conduct a preliminary study on solutions that lead to a reduction of oxygen consumption. HULC™, fueled by proprietary technology, decreases the wearer's oxygen consumption and heart rate thereby increasing the wearer's endurance.

Several field ready HULCs™ will be available for live demonstration in early 2008. Berkeley Bionics is now accepting orders for prototype HULC™ systems.


http://www.berkeleybionics.com/Unrestricted/HULC.html

Opensuse 11 rc 1 was released by novell.Hundreds of bugs have been since the alpha release.IThe installation went perfectly without any problems.Even in this release the nvidia driver dosen't compile yet.

from Novell

The openSUSE Project is proud to announce the openSUSE 11.0 Release Candidate 1 (RC1). The good news is that we’re closing in on the final release of 11.0, but it’s not time to relax just yet. We’re getting really close, so we need all hands on deck to help test this release candidate. Since beta 3 we’ve fixed 578 bugs and resolved 1,118 bugs! Read on to see how you can help get 11.0 into top shape.

The first step is to download the release candidate. Please remember that RC1 is not a stable release. As a release candidate, openSUSE 11.0 RC 1 is almost ready for day to day use, but may still have some interesting bugs that make it unsuitable for running a production system. Be sure to have backups of any important data before using openSUSE 11.0 RC 1 on a system.

Media and Download
You can download openSUSE 11.0 RC 1 for x86, x86_64, and PPC at http://software.opensuse.org/developer. Deltas from Beta 3 are also provided. Note that you will need the latest deltarpm from Factory, or for openSUSE 10.3 you can use the home:coolo repository to grab it.

Most Annoying Bugs
This is a list of the most annoying bugs, that we’re aware of, that still exist in the release candidate.

General
GRUB config broken for other partitions. Bug #395085
NVIDIA driver doesn’t compile. Workaround: check here for a patch
GNOME
GNOME asks for the root password on first login. Bug 390658
GNOME has wrong icon theme by default. Bug 391865
See the Bugs:Most_Annoying_Bugs_11.0_dev page on the wiki for an up-to-date list.

Call for Testing
To help testing, take a look at opensuse.org/Testing, and the Feature Test List page. The Feature Test List page includes a definitive list of new features included in openSUSE 11.0.

We need to test these features in particular, so please look through the features on the page, pick one that has not yet had its test completed, and make sure it passes. If not, be sure to file a bug in Bugzilla and mark the test “failed.” See the full instructions on the Feature Test List page.

Researchers at the University of Antwerp in Belgium have created a new supercomputer with standard gaming hardware. The system uses four NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GX2 graphics cards, it costs less than 4000EUR to build and thanks to NVIDIA's CUDA technology it delivers roughly the same performance as a supercomputer cluster consisting of hundreds of PCs!

This new system is used by the ASTRA research group, part of the Vision Lab of the University of Antwerp, to develop new computational methods for tomography. The guys explain the eight NVIDIA GPUs deliver the same performance as more than 300 Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz processors. On a normal desktop PC their tomography tasks would take several weeks but on this NVIDIA-based supercomputer it only takes a couple of hours. The NVIDIA graphics cards do the job very efficiently and consume a lot less power than a supercomputer cluster.

The research group ASTRA, part of the Vision Lab of the University of Antwerp, focuses on the development of new computational methods for tomography. Tomography is a technique used in medical scanners to create three-dimensional images of the internal organs of patients, based on a large number of X-ray photos that are acquired over a range of angles. ASTRA develops new reconstruction techniques that lead to better reconstruction quality than classical methods.

Although our reconstruction techniques are very powerful, they have an important drawback: they are quite slow. As the 3D images that we normally deal with can be rather large (typically 1024x1024x1024 volume elements, or more), advanced reconstruction methods can sometimes take weeks of computation time on a normal PC.

i just entered the world of SocialSpark!.Its been a pleasant experience but i am still learning to make my way around the site.Check out my- profile there.

I picked my own profile because at the moment i am the only one i know properly :-P
What i instantly fell in love with is the social network integrated into the site.I quickly found out that u could create communities and make new friends and correspond with them by a click of a button!

Though it is my first day yet i have finished adding a blog and made my first friend!
i also found an an option to create opportunities which i can use to get my sites reviewed to promote them and gain unique hits through the vast blog networks by adding more friends and socially interact with them,those of common intrests.
I personally like the layout of the site and could easily grasp it and make my way around pretty soon.

what i didnt like is ,through my entrire journey through the site i ran into just a small problem where the tracking code required to be placed on my blog overlapped a bit with the text in the page and sometimes the pages render badly.I think once this is fixed the site will be just perfect. But other wise the site seemed to be perfect.I am really excited and looking forward to putting my first post there.This is a great opportunity for bloggers who want to promote their site and work online.So if you still haven't joined give it a try-SocialSpark.trust me you wont be dissappointed!!

id Software today announced that it has begun production on Doom 4, and is now in the process of expanding its internal team of developers to work on the shooter sequel.

"Doom is part of the id Software DNA and demands the greatest talent and brightest minds in the industry to bring the next installment of our flagship franchise to Earth," said id Software CEO Todd Hollenshead in a release.

"It's critical for id Software to have the best creative minds in-house to develop games that meet the standards synonymous with our titles."

The company is currently accepting applications to fill job openings covering roles such as producer, lead designer, and lead animator, among others.

The job listings page indicates that applicable platforms for the positions are PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Though no further details on the game were released, the studio will likely make use of its new id Tech 5 engine for the project.

id Software lead artist Kevin Cloud recently told Shacknews that one of the strengths of the company's new engine is its cross-platform performance.

"You don't even have to worry about how it's going to look on PS3 or 360. Right now we've got it running cross-platform running 60 hertz, and it looks really good," said Cloud. "In terms of what artists are available to achieve--it's something you have to see for yourself. I can say this, but you still won't get it until you see it."

id will be hosting the 13th annual QuakeCon convention on July 31.

But Id stated they wont use DX10.It makes us wonder how the next gen doom will look like..another visual breakthrough?



shack news

Sarah Partan, an assistant professor in animal behavior at Hampshire, hopes that by capturing a close-up view of squirrels in nature, Rocky will help her team decode squirrels' communication techniques, social cues and survival instincts.

Rocky is among many robotic critters worldwide helping researchers observe animals in their natural environments rather than in labs. The research could let scientists better understand how animals work in groups, court, intimidate rivals and warn allies of danger.

In Indiana, for instance, a fake lizard shows off its machismo as researchers assess which actions intimidate and which attract real lizards. Pheromone-soaked cockroach counterfeits in Brussels, meanwhile, exert peer pressure on real roaches to move out of protective darkness. In California, a tiny video camera inside a fake female sage grouse records close-up details as it's wooed — and more — by the breed's unusually promiscuous males.

The research may even help explain similar instinctive behaviors in humans, researchers say.

"Animals and humans are all affected by behaviors, body postures and signals from each other that we may not be aware of," Partan said.

The use of fake critters to infiltrate real groups of animals is so new that few companies build or sell such tools to researchers.

Many of the scientists using animal doppelgangers have modified toy animals or, like Partan and her students, cobbled together their own with fake fur, small motors, circuits and other material. Partan, who created Rocky a few years ago with students when she taught at the University of South Florida, is constantly refining its actions and updating its technology.

Rocky's movement is controlled by basic computer programs, and it has tiny speakers inside that play recordings Partan purchased from an animal-sounds library at Cornell University.

One recent afternoon, she and students Maya Gounard, 20, and Andrew Fulmer, 19, brought Rocky out for field testing and placed him near real squirrels. Mounted on a board, he was shielded by a camouflage hood and a long cord connected him to the researchers' laptop.

After the computer's program flipped the hood open, Rocky went into a sequence of tail-flagging, barking and other motions squirrels recognize as warnings of danger.

The most successful experiments are when the real squirrels respond by "flagging" their own tail, halting their foraging to check for danger, scamper up a tree or take other actions that show they picked up on the signals, Partan said.

"We watch for a trade-off in their behavior," she said, pointing out a squirrel that jerked to its hind legs and froze, its eyes scanning the area as it heard Rocky's barks. "He gave up foraging to focus on being vigilant, so that's something we'd note as a discernible response."

They focus on whether squirrels react more strongly to Rocky's noises or movements or a combination that researchers call multi-modal signals.

Although animal behavior has been studied for years, much remains unknown about instinctive responses.

A particular sound may be the courting equivalent of, "Come over here, you sexy beast." But a tiny change can alter the message entirely, making it something akin to, "You're about to be torn to shreds if you don't get out of my territory."



more here
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jvzEsptLwUXYQOaQm5WrTA_8e-cwD90DNC501

The map of the first sequence of the game is almost done with some testuring and placing some more buildings.Details like trees,street lights and signs are still pending.here is the progress so far.
There will be a closed test release in the next few days.The 2nd release will feature possibly Dynamic fog and shaders.Hopefully by 5th.

via engadget-Nokia just announced a trio of "Beautiful to use" Nokia handsets with its Nokia 6600 slide, 6600 fold, and 3600 slide. The €250 6600 fold is said to smoothly arc open with the press of a button to reveal a 2.13-inch OLED display sporting 16 million colors. It also features tap commands. When off, a double-tap of the monolithic cover reveals the time, messages and missed calls. A double-tap also snoozes alerts and silences or rejects incoming phone calls. The €275 6600 slide (pictured left) features the same tap technology but bumps the digital camera up from 2 to 3.2 megapixels with a 2.2-inch QVGA display based on LCD tech, presumably. The 3600 slide offers the same camera with built-in background noise cancellation -- a first for a Nokia handset -- for a respectable €175. All three ship in Q3.



http://www.nokia.com/press/beautifultouse

Alienware's AMD-powered Aurora ALX picked up CrossFireX support just as soon as it went live from ATI, but it has taken a few weeks for the technology to make its way over to the iconic Area-51. Said gaming rig is now available with ATI CrossFireX, meaning that you can take advantage of all four GPUs across a pair of Radeon HD 3870 X2s. Full release posted after the jump.

HEATING THINGS UP – CROSSFIREX NOW OFFERED ON THE ALIENWARE AREA-51

For the first time, users can choose between the industry's two dominant multi-GPU solutions on the same platform

Miami – April 28, 2008 – Alienware – the leading manufacturer of desktop, notebook and entertainment systems – now offers ATI CrossFireX™ on the Area-51® desktop computer. Alienware recently retooled and re-launched the Area-51, its flagship system, with NVIDIA® Quad SLI® graphics.

With four GPUs across dual graphics cards, CrossFireX cranks out not only intense, lifelike graphics but also the raw processing power necessary to manipulate and navigate real-time 3D environments for a never-before-seen gaming experience.

"This is huge," says Marc Diana, Product Marketing Manager for Alienware. "One of the biggest reasons our customers choose Alienware is unmatched graphics performance. Adding a CrossFireX option to the award-winning Area-51 reaffirms its status as the world's best gaming desktop."

the price starts around 999$ and above.For details
www.alienware.com

via engadget

The NVIDIA® GeForce® 9600 GSO GPU offers a powerfully immersive entertainment experience designed for extreme high-definition gaming and video playback. Play the hottest DirectX 10 games with awesome speed and watch the latest HD DVD and Blu-ray movies with brilliant clarity. Featuring next generation GeForce and PureVideo® HD technologies, the GeForce 9600 GSO GPU puts amazing graphics performance within your reach.

Processor Cores 96
Core Clock (MHz) 550 MHz
Shader Clock (MHz) 1375 MHz
Memory Clock (MHz) 800 MHz
Memory Amount 384MB
Memory Interface 192-bit
Memory Bandwidth (GB/sec) 38.4
Texture Fill Rate (billion/sec) 26.4

holidays at last so i have started working on the textures and the first area of silent hill.hopefully i will in the next update i will have implemented normal mapping and if possible blurring out the entire area.For now here is a screenshot of the first area.hope you recognize it

Please note that some of these textures are not final yet and its only to show a preview of what has been done.

Rumors that Apple's 3G iPhone is on the way are coming faster by the day, and now images of the alleged next generation iPhone are beginning to surface, too. Apparently the new iPhone will also sport a glossy black back, replacing the satin nickel look found on the current model.

Apple's new iPhone?

If iPodOberver.com's source is correct, the redesigned iPhone back also drops the black plastic end piece that covers the antenna, and it appears that Apple will continue to offer an 8GB model.

Of course, rumors are just rumors until Steve Jobs pulls a new iPhone out of his pocket. If the image proves to be legit, however, the glossy black finish will make a nice addition to the up-and-coming executive's tech stash.