Posts tagged computers

Google I/O day one highlights. Google’s  I/O developer conference got underway Wednesday without anything like the headline grabbing demonstration of Glass at last years Day One keynote, but there were still a few interesting points: New-look Google Maps Google Play Music All Access Google Play Game Services Google Now voice search coming to desktop PC’s Three-columned new look for Google+ You can now send money via Gmail Also announced were some statistics: 900 million Android activations worldwide to date, and 48 billion apps downloaded from Google Play. That compares to 50 billion app downloads on iOS, which was reached earlier this week.

Google I/O day one highlights.

Google’s  I/O developer conference got underway Wednesday without anything like the headline grabbing demonstration of Glass at last years Day One keynote, but there were still a few interesting points:

Also announced were some statistics: 900 million Android activations worldwide to date, and 48 billion apps downloaded from Google Play. That compares to 50 billion app downloads on iOS, which was reached earlier this week.

Wow, check out those ‘3D’ graphics. In my mind the graphics in Myst were still amazing, so it’s kind of disappointing to actually see it again and realize how dated it looks now. This was the 1993 entry for Wired’s ‘Most jaw-dropping game graphics’ list of the last 20 years - check out the full list here.

Wow, check out those ‘3D’ graphics.

In my mind the graphics in Myst were still amazing, so it’s kind of disappointing to actually see it again and realize how dated it looks now.

This was the 1993 entry for Wired’s ‘Most jaw-dropping game graphics’ list of the last 20 years - check out the full list here.

Wired

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Google celebrates 37 years of breakout.

Google has slipped a small easter egg into their Image Search page in the form of a playable Breakout game, which was originally released in 1976.

To get access to the game, navigate to the Image Search page and type in “Atari Breakout”

Click below for an interesting backstory (tl;dr - Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak originally produced the prototype Pong game):

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Wikipedia

Unreal Engine 3 powered demo runs in standard web browser. Epic Games has shown off a game built to run in any standards-based browser using HTML5, WebGL and Javascript, without any additional drivers or plugins. The demo of Epic Citadel is based on Unreal Engine 3, which took just four days to port to the web. “Just like Sony and Microsoft have platforms, the web is now a platform, and if you can build and ship a game, you can have it run in several (and in the future, any) standards-compliant browser and have a great experience,” Epic founder Tim Sweeney told Gamasutra last month. “It marks the end of drivers, installation, all the other weird quirks of legacy game development.” Check out the demo here.

Unreal Engine 3 powered demo runs in standard web browser.

Epic Games has shown off a game built to run in any standards-based browser using HTML5, WebGL and Javascript, without any additional drivers or plugins. The demo of Epic Citadel is based on Unreal Engine 3, which took just four days to port to the web.

“Just like Sony and Microsoft have platforms, the web is now a platform, and if you can build and ship a game, you can have it run in several (and in the future, any) standards-compliant browser and have a great experience,” Epic founder Tim Sweeney told Gamasutra last month.

“It marks the end of drivers, installation, all the other weird quirks of legacy game development.”

Check out the demo here.

listserv.gameplanet.net.nz

The world’s first webpage brought back to life. On April 30, 1993 the first page on the World Wide Web was made available online by CERN - the same group now running the large Large Hadron Collider in Europe. While the page has been accessible at various sources on and off since that date, it’s now been moved back entirely to its original address. Check it out at http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html

The world’s first webpage brought back to life.

On April 30, 1993 the first page on the World Wide Web was made available online by CERN - the same group now running the large Large Hadron Collider in Europe.

While the page has been accessible at various sources on and off since that date, it’s now been moved back entirely to its original address. Check it out at http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html

theverge.com

I got out my Commodore 64 this week and amazingly it still all works, even the printer started churning out pages like it had never been stored away for most of the last 25 years!

I bought the system around 2001 from a guy who at that time still used it as his main PC and was finally upgrading.

It’s still in pretty good condition and some boxes even have price tags on - the disk drive was $495 New Zealand dollars when purchased (probably mid 80’s). That’s around US$420 in 1985, or US$915 adjusted for inflation in 2013 - just for the disk drive! Really shows how much prices have come down while performance has gone up!

Moveable screen developed at MIT. The prototype ‘Obake’ can react to a user by creating shapes out of the screen. In the demonstration above a mountain grows and and changes the run of a river on-screen. Six specialized motors located below a silicone liquid rubber screen control the screen’s movement. Push, pry, prod, pinch, poke and the surface is malleable enough to move. (Watch a demo here). A small microphone below the screen picks up the noise of vibrations when a finger touches the surface. Cameras mounted above detect the movement of a user’s hand; an overhead projector is used to display images. Dand envisions many potential applications. The “display opens up all sorts of new options,” he adds. “Like for Excel tables with row and columns. What if it could pop out a chart bar and change the data?” I just can’t stop thinking about how creepy this is, after watching this scene in Ghostbusters 2:

Moveable screen developed at MIT.

The prototype ‘Obake’ can react to a user by creating shapes out of the screen. In the demonstration above a mountain grows and and changes the run of a river on-screen.

Six specialized motors located below a silicone liquid rubber screen control the screen’s movement. Push, pry, prod, pinch, poke and the surface is malleable enough to move. (Watch a demo here).

A small microphone below the screen picks up the noise of vibrations when a finger touches the surface. Cameras mounted above detect the movement of a user’s hand; an overhead projector is used to display images.

Dand envisions many potential applications. The “display opens up all sorts of new options,” he adds. “Like for Excel tables with row and columns. What if it could pop out a chart bar and change the data?”

I just can’t stop thinking about how creepy this is, after watching this scene in Ghostbusters 2:

technologyreview.com

3D Scanner hits Indiegogo. Although it’s only useful for scanning small objects, it’s still a pretty neat idea. At this stage they’re still available at the Indiegogo campaign page for C$449. The Photon 3D scanner uses a high definition camera and dual laser lines to capture 3D scans in as little as 3 minutes. The Photon can scan objects up to 190mm x 190mm x 250mm (7.5” diameter x 9.75” height), and yet folds up into a compact size. Currently the resolution of the Photon, on a 4 inch figurine, is 0.43mm @ 0.5 degree scans, with an accuracy of +/- .2mm.

3D Scanner hits Indiegogo.

Although it’s only useful for scanning small objects, it’s still a pretty neat idea. At this stage they’re still available at the Indiegogo campaign page for C$449.

The Photon 3D scanner uses a high definition camera and dual laser lines to capture 3D scans in as little as 3 minutes. The Photon can scan objects up to 190mm x 190mm x 250mm (7.5” diameter x 9.75” height), and yet folds up into a compact size.

Currently the resolution of the Photon, on a 4 inch figurine, is 0.43mm @ 0.5 degree scans, with an accuracy of +/- .2mm.

D-Wave sells ‘D-Wave Two’ for $10 million. D-Wave Systems has reportedly sold their next-generation ‘D-Wave Two quantum computer’ to Lockheed Martin for an estimated US$10 million. Lockheed Martin bought the first ‘D-Wave One’ computer two years ago for the same price. The new machine is said to be 500,000 times faster than the first version.  Lockheed Martin will use it to create and test complex radar, space, and aircraft systems. D-Wave plan to release a new processor every two years. 

D-Wave sells ‘D-Wave Two’ for $10 million.

D-Wave Systems has reportedly sold their next-generation ‘D-Wave Two quantum computer’ to Lockheed Martin for an estimated US$10 million. Lockheed Martin bought the first ‘D-Wave One’ computer two years ago for the same price.

The new machine is said to be 500,000 times faster than the first version.  Lockheed Martin will use it to create and test complex radar, space, and aircraft systems.

D-Wave plan to release a new processor every two years. 

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Breakthrough could allow computer memory to get a 1000x speed boost.

A new paper published in the journal Nature shows a new way to switch magnetism at speeds at least 1,000 times faster than is currently used in magnetic memory technologies.

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scienceworldreport.com