Topic: COMPUTER - on June 23, 2016 at 11:23:00 PM CEST
The Nintendo 64 turns 20 today
It was on June 23, 1996 that the Nintendo 64 made its debut — in Japan, that is. We wouldn’t see it on this side of the Pacific for another three months. But today is its proper birthday, and 20 years is a significant enough anniversary that we should probably just take a moment to remember just how awesome this console was — and is.
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Topic: COMPUTER - on June 23, 2016 at 11:21:00 PM CEST
Why would you want a 1,000 core processor?
Are you familiar with the highly influential piece for programmers by Herb Sutter called "The Free Lunch Is Over"? He wrote it in 2004, just when CPU clock speeds were at a zenith. Back in those days, software developers could count on Moore's Law double the speed of their software every couple years. They could write something, wait a little while, and all of a sudden it was blazing fast. But Herb Sutter correctly predicted the end of this performance gain. The technical definition of Moore's Law continued — transistor counts kept doubling — but it has become more and more difficult to translate those transistors into actually faster apps.
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Topic: COMPUTER - on June 14, 2016 at 5:34:00 PM CEST
The world’s oldest computer is still revealing its secrets
Item 15087 wasn't much to look at, particularly compared to other wonders uncovered from the shipwreck at Antikythera, Greece, in 1901. The underwater excavation revealed gorgeous bronze sculptures, ropes of decadent jewelry and a treasure trove of antique coins. Amid all that splendor, who could have guessed that a shoebox-size mangled bronze machine, its inscriptions barely legible, its gears calcified and corroded, would be the discovery that could captivate scientists for more than a century?
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Topic: COMPUTER - on June 10, 2016 at 9:53:00 PM CEST
Google moves closer to a universal quantum computer
Combining the best of analog and digital approaches could yield a full-scale multipurpose quantum computer. For 30 years, researchers have pursued the universal quantum computer, a device that could solve any computational problem, with varying degrees of success. Now, a team in California and Spain has made an experimental prototype of such a device that can solve a wide range of problems in fields such as chemistry and physics, and has the potential to be scaled up to larger systems. Both IBM and a Canadian company called D-Wave have created functioning quantum computers using different approaches. But their devices are not easily scalable to the many quantum bits (qubits) needed for solving problems that classical computers cannot.
nature.com Google combines two main quantum computing ideas in one computer phys.org
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Topic: COMPUTER - on June 7, 2016 at 5:22:00 PM CEST
The Incredibly Weird Story Behind Tetris
Tetris turns 32 today. Here's the remarkable and strange story of how this classic game was born. This article originally ran at Den of Geek UK. We're bringing back this article in honor of the 32nd anniversary of Tetris. Somewhere in Moscow in 1984, 29-year-old computer engineer Alexey Pajitnov sat at his work station, deep within a building called the Soviet Academy of Sciences. Here, in front of his hulking computer, an Elektronika 60, Pajitnov was working on one of his latest programs. If you’d been one of his superiors, Pajitnov would have told you that he was examining its code for bugs. But in reality, he was addicted.
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Topic: COMPUTER - on June 3, 2016 at 6:18:00 PM CEST
I live in the Central African bush. We pay for slow satellite internet (per MB d/l).
Just ONE of our computers has secretly d/l'ed 6GB for Windows 10. We track & coordinate anti-poaching rangers in the field with these PC's + GPS. F* You Microsoft!
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Topic: COMPUTER - on June 3, 2016 at 2:33:00 PM CEST
The ECHO IV Home Computer: 50 Years Later
This year we celebrate the 50th anniversary of a home computer built and operated more than a decade before ‘official’ home computers arrived on the scene. Yes, before the ‘trinity’ of the Apple II, the Commodore PET and the Radio Shack TRS-80–all introduced in 1977—Jim Sutherland, a quiet engineer and family man in Pittsburgh, was building a computer system on his own for his family. Sutherland configured this new computer system to control many aspects of his home with his wife and children as active users. It truly was a home computer—that is, the house itself was part of the computer and its use was integrated into the family’s daily routines.
The System
Sutherland’s computer was called the ECHO IV – the Electronic Computing Home Operator. ECHO IV comprised four large (6’ x 2’ x 6’) cabinets weighing approximately 800 lbs and included a central processing unit (CPU) constructed from surplus circuit modules from a Westinghouse Prodac-IV industrial process control computer; magnetic core memory, I/O circuitry and power supplies. With the permission of his employer, Westinghouse, Sutherland took these modules home and designed and built the ECHO IV in less than a year.
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Topic: COMPUTER - on May 14, 2016 at 3:59:00 PM CEST
Guide to Computing
This colourful series of ten historic computers, created in close collaboration between INK and Docubyte, documents the beginning of our computing history.
Featuring such famous machines as the IBM 1401 and Alan Turing’s Pilot ACE, Guide to Computing showcases a minimalist approach to design that precedes even Apple’s contemporary motifs.
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Topic: COMPUTER - on October 6, 2014 at 5:58:00 PM CEST
Test Version Windows 10 Includes Keylogger
One of the more interesting bits of data the company is collecting is text entered. Some are calling this a keylogger within the Windows 10 Technical Preview, which isn't good news. Taking a closer look at the Privacy Policy for the Windows Insider Program, it looks like Microsoft may be collecting a lot more feedback from you behind the scenes. Microsoft collects information about you, your devices, applications and networks, and your use of those devices, applications and networks. Examples of data we collect include your name, email address, preferences and interests; browsing, search and file history; phone call and SMS data; device configuration and sensor data; and application usage." This isn't the only thing Microsoft is collecting from Insider Program participants. According to the Privacy Policy, the company is collecting things like text inputted into the operating system, the details of any/all files on your system, voice input and program information.
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Topic: COMPUTER - on September 6, 2014 at 6:47:00 PM CEST
Why Munich Will Stick With Linux
There are many solved problems in open source. Groupware is not one of them," Georg Greve, co-founder and CEO of Kolab System starts off his post highlighting recent features of the latest release of the Kolab groupware project. He calls out a few newly elected politicians that don't like the current set-up, but says that thousands of users don't have the same experience. "Until today, the city of Munich is using the same stand-alone calendaring and email systems it had used when it was still fully operating on Windows. Updating these systems had a lower priority than the migration to LiMux then. But an upgrade is underway now.
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Topic: COMPUTER - on June 6, 2014 at 4:01:00 PM CEST
Creative Suite CS2 kostenlos bei Adobe downloaden
Manch interessante Information erreicht uns trotz ständiger digitaler Beschäftigung deutlich zu spät. Ganz offensichtlich bietet Adobe die Creative Suite 2 seit einiger Zeit kostenfrei zum Download. Vorausgesetzt wird lediglich eine Adobe-ID, also ein kostenloses Benutzerkonto bei Adobe.
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Topic: COMPUTER - on June 3, 2014 at 5:05:00 PM CEST
Pixar to give away 'Toy Story' 3D RenderMan software
The 3D rendering software behind films such as Toy Story, Monsters Inc and Harry Potter is to be given away free for non-commercial use.
RenderMan, which is developed by Pixar, has faced increased competition from rival animation rendering programmes such as VRay and Arnold.
Although Pixar, which is owned by Disney, produces its own films, it licenses RenderMan to rival studios.
The company has also cut the price of its software for commercial use.
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