NVIDIA Clears Up Common CUDA Misconception

NVIDIA, never being slow to issue corrections on behalf of others, cleared up some facts about CUDA and also Intel's Larrabee, in an e-mail to DailyTech. First and foremost, for anyone who hasn't taken a look at our Larrabee article from yesterday, definitely check it out, as it clears up a lot of what makes Larrabee the 'killer' solution in Intel's eyes.

As has been the common misconception, Larrabee is supposed to improve on NVIDIA's CUDA solution because it's a true x86 solution, allowing simple C/C++ code to be written, without the need to learn another language, like CUDA. However, in the NVIDIA-issued statement, it was mentioned that CUDA is not another language, but is just like Larrabee in that it itself is still a C compiler, one based on the PathScale C compiler.

From my understanding, CUDA does require separate C-based libraries in order to utilize the the architecture properly, but at this point, I'm unsure if Intel's Larrabee would work the same way. Intel does tout true 'plug-in-play', so to speak, and we may not know the true process of development for the architecture for a while. However, as it stands, NVIDIA's CUDA is not as horrible as others make it out to be, and I'm sure we'll see clear evidence of that in three weeks at NVISION.

NVIDIA's approach to parallel computing has already proven to scale from 8 to 240 GPU cores. Also, NVIDIA is just about to release a multi-core CPU version of the CUDA compiler. This allows the developer to write an application once and run across multiple platforms. Larrabee's development environment is proprietary to Intel and, at least disclosed in marketing materials to date, is different than a multi-core CPU software environment.

Source: DailyTech

Five Applications that Don't Suck to Replace Ones that Do

To be heard, you sometimes need to be blunt, and Download Squad is just that. According to them, the applications you use suck, but it's alright, because they have five alternatives for the five said applications that reek of garbage.

Of course, moving to a free application doesn't mean much if the application itself sucks, but their choice of five don't. Run the ultra-bloated Nero? Ever consider CD Burner XP instead? I admit that Nero is a little bloated, but there are a few features found there not found in CD Burner XP, which is why I continue to use it. I admit though, CD Burner XP is tempting, in all it's lightweight glory.

Another recommendation is replacing Adobe Reader with Foxit PDF Reader... and this is one I can whole heartily agree with. I don't mind Adobe Reader for the most part (it's even more of a pain when you are running the full-blown commercial version), but the incessant update nag screens is what causes me to move my chair back so I don't throw a monitor. "Do you want to shut down all Adobe applications and continue with the update?" Yeah! In fact I was hoping for that! In all seriousness though, their five recommendations are great, and free, so check them out.

I'd wager that you can open and close Foxit about half a dozen times before Reader finishes launching once. It's 92% smaller and still manages to render PDFs very accurately. What more can you say? A PDF reader should, well, read PDFs. It doesn't need to do any other fancy crap.

Source: Download Squad

Delta to Become First Airline to Offer WiFi on All Flights

A few airlines have already mentioned in the past few months their desire to offer Internet access on their flights, but Delta has gone ahead and put those to shame. After a predicted one-year rollout, Delta intends to offer WiFi on every-single plane in their fleet. The company needs new ways to drum up business, and I have little doubt that I'd try to get on a Delta flight myself, simply because of this addition.

Of course, what should be free never is, so for flights under three-hours in length, access will cost $9.95, while flights over three-hours will be $12.95. These prices are negligible if you really do have business to take care of, though. Time is money, and $12.95 for a 3+ hour plane ride will no doubt pay for itself for some people.

The service won't limit too much, but I'm sure VOIP is going to be filtered to deny access. What will be allowed is e-mail, IM, VPN, the web of course, and also SMS messages. I assume the latter will be allowed via an internal protocol, and not via your actual cell phone. While the completed deployment will still take an entire year, this is one feature that should be worth the wait. Now if only other airlines would follow suit.

As Aircell notes in its product literature, computer users are accustomed to having to pay for access to public hotspots (generally including those at airports), opening their wallets for several hours of access is unlikely to seem as aggravating as doing so for a blanket and pillow.

Source: Ars Technica

AMD Fusion Details Leak - 40nm CPU, 32nm GPU

According to sources close to TG Daily, AMD's Fusion might become a reality sooner than we thought. This is impressive, given the rough time AMD has had as a company since the acquisition of ATI, but it's good to see that the first piece of joint technology the company boasted about after the acquisition didn't go the way of the dodo.

Sources say that AMD engineers have been regularly going to the TSMC headquarters to discuss plans of the CPU+GPU hybrid chip, and also go on to state that the first version of the processor, codenamed Shrike, will consist of a 40nm Dual-Core Phenom CPU and a 32nm ATI RV800 GPU... not the least bit shabby, that's for sure.

It's still far too early to even begin to think of overall performance, especially from the GPU part of the chip, but the fact that it will support DX10.1 leads us to believe it shouldn't be that bad of an offering, especially if it's able to handle 1080p content. I'm getting ahead of myself, but it's hard not to. Fusion, if done right, is going to be very exciting.

While Shrike will debut as a 40 nm chip, the processor is scheduled to transition to 32 nm at the beginning of 2010 - not much later than Intel will introduce 32 nm - and serve as a stop-gap before the next-gen CPU core, code-named "Bulldozer" arrives. The Bulldozer-based chip, code-named "Falcon", will debut with TSMC's 32nm SOI process, instead of the originally planned 45 nm.

Source: TG Daily

DISH Network Posts First-Ever Loss of Subscribers

Being a digital cable fanboy, I didn't realize until recently just how common satellite dishes still were. Last weekend, I visited a friend and saw his satellite setup and saw the great selection of channels and the gorgeous HD picture quality... it really does put my current digital cable setup to great shame. But it appears not all is well with satellite, if certain reports are to be read into.

Popular satellite television provider DISH Network has just posted a surprise quarterly loss of their subscribers, which is apparently the first-ever loss of subscribers by a major satellite company. The loss isn't minor either, with the number totaling 25,000. Granted, those subscribers are a real drop in the bucket compared to their entire subscriber base, but it's something to take note of regardless.

Analysts note that DISH has not done a good job of attracting new business, although their recently-launched campaign for the 'Total HD' service might help a bit. The company itself blames the weak economic conditions (a typical favorite) and also aggressive promotional offerings of their main competition.

Ergen told analysts that signal theft through illegal set-top boxes bought over the Internet or elsewhere was one of the factors that had a material impact on DISH's customer churn during the quarter. He said the company is rolling out new security measures to prevent signal theft.

Source: Reuters

Steve Jobs Acknowledges MobileMe's Flaws, Reorganizes Leadership

In an internal e-mail sent to Apple employees last night, Steve Jobs discussed MobileMe's rough fate, and gives his input on what he believes should have happened. Jobs said that the service needed more testing, and the service could have been rolled out slowly (one feature at a time) instead of tiring the staff with getting the iPhone 3G, iPhone 2.0 software and the App Store out the door.

The email also said, according to Ars Technica, that the MobileMe team, and all Internet-related services at the company, will report to Eddy Cue. Cue will then report directly to Steve Jobs. It is not clear what happened to the the rest of the staff on the team, however.

Jobs finally said, "And learn we will. The vision of MobileMe is both exciting and ambitious, and we will press on to make it a service we are all proud of by the end of this year."

In an internal e-mail sent to Apple employees this evening, Steve Jobs admitted that MobileMe was launched too early and "not up to Apple's standards." The e-mail, seen by Ars Technica, acknowledges MobileMe's flaws and what could have been done to better handle the launch. In addition to needing more time and testing, Jobs believes that Apple should have rolled MobileMe's services out slowly instead of launching it "as a monolithic service." For example, over-the-air iPhone syncing could have gone up initially, then web apps one by one (Mail, Calendar, etc.).

Source: Ars Technica

Are 64-bit PCs Finally Catching On?

Looking back to three years ago when I wrote an article entitled, 'Windows XP - 32-bit vs 64-bit', I have to laugh. As it stands, three years later, the majority of the computers on the market right now are still running 32-bit operating systems (OS X 10.5+ is the only one that's 100% 64-bit), and past that, many common applications still lack native 64-bit binaries.

One thing's for sure, though... things were far worse back when I wrote that article. Using Windows XP x64 was a chore, because so much hardware would simply not function, and most companies would laugh if you requested a compatible driver. With Vista, things improved quite a bit, and as long as you are not relying on very old equipment, then very little should get in the way of your computing experience. On my Windows machine, I have been running 64-bit Vista for quite a while and have found it far, far more stable than the 32-bit Vista, ironically.

A recent CNET blog entry references an official Microsoft blog entry posted earlier this week that stated 20% of new computers sold during June, connected to the Windows Update service, were running the 64-bit version of Vista. That is an impressive stat, and hopefully one that will encourage developers to hurry up and finally release native 64-bit software. It's sure been a long wait thus far...

Among the factors leading to the shift are the fact that 64-bit machines, unlike their 32-bit brethren, can directly address more than 4GB of memory. Also, more 64-bit software is finally coming to market, as evidenced by last week's release of a 64-bit optimized version of Adobe Lightroom.

Source: Beyond Binary Blog

Still No Demand for Blu-ray?

Remember CES earlier this year, when HD DVD was dying a seriously painful and drawn-out death? Well, Blu-ray fans immediately cheered, while the HD DVD supporters wept. But with recent survey reports, we have to begin to wonder if Blu-ray can be considered a 'winner' in the true sense of the word. Why? Lack of overall demand.

Given that Blu-ray is currently the only high-definition hard format available (ignoring high-def content available online), you'd imagine that support would immediately pick up, but not so according to ABI Research. Out of the 1,000 (year, seriously lame number here), half of the people said they'd like to purchase a Blu-ray player, with another twenty-three percent claiming they will purchase one by sometime during 2009.

Though I'm not a fan of Sony, per se, I do wish Blu-ray adoption would pick up, as it's a true pleasure being able to watch movies at such a high-resolution. Once you do, it's seriously difficult to go back to a standard DVD... at least with me. The glaring problem to me is the pricing, although Amazon does treat US citizens to some great deals quite often. When people see an older movie, like Training Day, available for $25 and a newer release, such as Casino Royale, for $35, it's no wonder Blu-ray is slow to catch on.

"While you might think gamers purchase fewer movie discs than others, we didn’t see any significant evidence of that in our results," said ABI principle analyst Steve Wilson. "PS3 console shipments will go a long way to help bring down manufacturing costs and drive down Blu-ray player prices."

Source: Edge Online

August 5th Tech Roundup

• XFX GeForce 8200 - Motherboards
• ASRock X48TurboTwins-WiFi - Phoronix
• ASRock P45R2000-WiFi - ThinkComputers
• Gigabyte EP45-DQ6 - Bjorn3D

• Galaxy & Leadtek 9500 GT - Madshrimps
• Zotac GeForce 9800 GTX+ Amp! Edition - techPowerUp
• XFX GeForce GTX 280 XXX 1GB - Elite Bastards
• Sapphire Radeon HD4870 512MB - Bigbruin

• OCZ 1600MHz DDR3 Platinum EB Edition 4GB - techPowerUp

• Pioneer BDC-S02 Blu-ray Optical Drive - Rbmods

• NorthQ Siberian Tiger Water Cooling System - TweakPC
• Xigmatek SD964 HDT CPU Cooler - DragonSteelMods
• Zaward Gyre CPU Cooler - techPowerUp
• Noctua NF-P12+NF-B9 Fan - XtremeComputing

• In Win Alpha360 - TheTechLounge
• Antec Twelve Hundred - Virtual-Hideout
• Cooler Master Silent ProM 600W - Technic3D

• Folding@Home Contest - Bjorn3D
• Asus Eee Box - ComputerShopper
• Apple iPhone 3G - Digital Trends