Tech News
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Google Brain-Mapping Project Learns to Find Cats Online
Published: Tuesday, June 26, 2012 | By: DennisLooks like I might have to change the captcha I have implemented to protect the Ninjalane Message Forum from spammers.
As detailed by the New York Times, researchers at Google have been working on a way to map the human brain. Using 10 million images pulled from YouTube videos and a connection of 16,000 processors, the team was able to teach the machines to recognize cats.
While that might seem silly, the project is noteworthy because researchers never prompted the computers to be on the lookout for cat faces. Over time, the machines just recognized the animals.
"It performed far better than any previous effort by roughly doubling its accuracy in recognizing objects in a challenging list of 20,000 distinct items," the Times said.
The large amount of data and computing power also make the project unique.The Captcha I use is based on a project called KittenAuth which takes pictures of cats and cars and requires the user to select all of the cats before submitting the form. Based on what I have seen this works great to stop automated bots from registering but does very little to stop human spammers paid to post.
It also doesn't stop human spammers from creating an account and saving the login details to a robot database. Lucky for me both are easy to spot and with the aid of "The Ban Hammer" I can clean up the system rather quickly.
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Microsoft Surface blurs boundary between tablet and ultrabook
Published: Tuesday, June 26, 2012 | By: DennisI was hoping that someone would mention Asus when it comes to ultratabs.
With Microsoft and Asustek both having come out with tablet-like ultrabook designs that choose to adopt the new Ivy Bridge-based Core i7 processors, instead of processors from Clover Trail platform, Intel is unlikely to be able to demand its downstream partners follow its rules for separating the two product lines, the sources noted.
One thing is certain I will likely be getting an Ivy Bridge based ultratab when they come available and by any means necessary. (beg, borrow steal) This of course is assuming the mfg can:
a) provide good screen resolution
b) keep battery life in check
c) make it affordableSadly we are almost guaranteed that both a and b will not be met while c is left in the questionable category.
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ASUS Xonar Phoebus 7.1 Gaming Soundcard Review @ HardwareHeaven
Published: Monday, June 25, 2012 | By: DennisDiscrete sound cards have fallen out of popularity lately, so much in fact that it is next to impossable to find one to replace the onboard crap most motherboard vendors give us. That's not to say "all" boards come with a crap sound processor, I can name a few, but rather the boards the majority of you buy who opt against affording something good.
Lucky for us Asus still makes a good sound board complete with 7.1 channel audio.
Aimed very much at providing a fantastic gaming experience whether it be 2.0 via the headphone amp or 7.1 through the multi-channel outputs the Xonar Phoebus is, at least on paper, the latest in a line of impressive audio products from ASUS. Today we will be taking a look at the card in detail to find out if it can live up to some very high expectations.
I did get a chance to listen to one of these at Computex and the overall quality is amazing. They also come with a pretty good amplifier which is important when you want to hear bass while running Corsair headsets.
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NL: Review Block - Cases and Coolers Edition
Published: Monday, June 25, 2012 | By: DennisWelcome to another edition of Cases and Coolers with your host, me. In this edition we are going to look at some high and "low" quality cases from around the web including an Xtreme Hummer "Zero" from a company called Nox. I dunno about the case but the name got a rise out of me for sure.
Cases
- Nox Xtreme Hummer Zero 3.0 @ HW-Journal (OMG check out the Xtreme Hummer!)
- Antec ISK110 VESA Case Review @ Hardware Secrets
- Thermaltake Armor Revo Snow Edition PC Tower @ Pro-Clockers
- Corsair Carbide 300R Mid-Tower Gaming Chassis Review @ Techgage
- CM Storm Stryker @ techPowerUp
- Bitfenix Shinobi XL: mild-mannered powerhouse @ Hardware.Info
- Silverstone Kublai KL04 @ techPowerUp
- Coolermaster HAF XM @ Rbmods
Coolers
- Noctua NH-L12 Low Profile CPU Cooler Review @ Bigbruin
- Noctua NH-I12 CPU Cooler @ Bjorn3D
- Cooler Master TPC 812 CPU Cooler Review @ Hardware SecretsDon't look here for any Xtreme Hummers, its not on the menu, so to speak.
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ZOTAC Gives GeForce GTX 670 Extreme Edition Treatment
Published: Friday, June 22, 2012 | By: DennisYou may not know this but the GTX 680 and GTX 670 are pin compatible GPUs meaning that you can design a single PCB and interchange the chips without any issue. Simply flash a BIOS image and call it good. That was one reason why you saw boards like the Gigabyte GTX 670 rolling with a customized GTX 680 PCB and why we are seeing a super extreme GTX 670 from Zotac.
Cooling the beast is the same swanky cooling solution as the one found on the GTX 680 Extreme Edition. Staying within the confines of 2 expansion slots, the cooler packs a large aluminum fin heatsink that spans the entire length of the card, which uses five 8 mm-thick nickel-plated copper heat pipes that draw heat from the copper GPU base, to the aluminum fin stack. The heatsink is then ventilated by a pair of 92 mm fans.
The PCB is a monster with, what looks like, 13 power phases and extra camel hump to contain them all. Sadly, according to Zotac, these boards will never be introduced outside of the China market which sounds more like a challenge than a promise.
Who thinks I need to "import" one of these cards for testing in the Ninjalane Labs?
This story is souced from TechPowerUp but ultimatly generated from a news posting at EXPReview as you can tell from the watermark.
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Western Digital VelociRaptor 1TB 10K RPM Hard Drive Review @ Techgage
Published: Friday, June 22, 2012 | By: DennisPeople call me crazy for using a VelociRaptor in my main system and on the test bench but I like the speed and don't mind the noise that a powerful HDD can give you. Now you can have all that power with a 1TB storage capacity.
Need big storage, but can't compromise on performance? At a time when 1TB SSDs cost as much as an excellent gaming PC, the obvious choice becomes WD's VelociRaptor - which not only recently received a refresh, but also a 1TB model. Let's take a look at it, and see how it compares to WD's other current desktop hard drives.
Sadly even the 6GB VelociRaptor drives top out so if you want super blazing speed you'll need more than one of them in some sort of configuration that starts with an R and ends with an AID.
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Radeon HD 7970 Ghz Edition Launch Day
Published: Friday, June 22, 2012 | By: DennisJust in case your HD 7970 wasn't fast enough you now have the Ghz Edition available and ready to kick ass. The new GPU introduces a "boost" clock that will ramp core speeds up 50Mhz and give you a little extra processing power. Combine that with the 1Ghz store core clock and you have.... An overclocked HD 7970.
AMD has added higher clock speeds and a PowerTune "boost" feature to the Radeon HD 7970 in a bid to reclaim the single-GPU performance crown. Will it succeed? We have a look, with our customary focus on frame latencies, not just FPS averages. - TechReport
Web Reviews
- AMD's Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition
- AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition review @ Hardware.Info
- Radeon HD 7970 GHz edition review
- AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition Review @ HotHardware
- AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition Graphics Card Review @ HardwareHeaven
- AMD Radeon HD 7970 3GB GHz Edition Review @ Hardware Canucks
- AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition 3 GB @ techPowerUp -
NL: Review Block - Memory and Storage
Published: Tuesday, June 19, 2012 | By: DennisYou can never have enough yet you are never sure exactly how much to get and what brand to buy. This is where the hardware reviews come in, but even then you are not guaranteed that what you want will be available in your area.
Oh the joys of hardware.
Web Reviews
- G.Skill Ripjaws Z 16GB Memory Review @ HCW
- Kingston HyperX 3K RAID 0 @ PureOverclock
- OCZ Agility 3 2.5" 120GB SATA III Review at Overclockers Online
- OCZ Vertex 4 128GB Solid State Drive Review @ OCIA
- OCZ Octane 512GB Solid State Drive @ APH Networks
- Western Digital VelociRaptor 1TB Hard Drive Review @ Hardware Canucks
- Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB @ PureOverclockI have done my share of memory reviews but you'd be surprised at how stingy memory companies can be with samples.
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Linus Torvalds F-bombs Nvidia
Published: Monday, June 18, 2012 | By: DennisPeople do stuff like this to get attention and it doesn't matter if they are a hardware review startup or a top ranked and highly respected public figure, if you do things against the norm you will get attention. This attention is then followed by a whole lotta backlash.
While I agree — and in many ways sympathize — with Torvalds’ point about Nvidia with regards to Linux support, I don’t agree with the suggestion that any community is entitled to anything beyond what a company advertises as offering. We do have to bear in mind that Nvidia is under no obligation to do anything to help the Linux community, and any suggestion that Nvidia — or any other company – should play nicely with open source is based on nothing more than a feeling of entitlement.
I can fully agree with this statement. While it would be a nice gesture to help the Linux community create the drivers they need and might might prevent the Linux hacking army from stealing Tegra 4 specs and selling them to the highest bidder it just isn't something Nvidia is obligated to do.
This whole exchange reminds me of phrase I heard in my youth. I was visiting the local motorcycle salvage yard looking to see what it may cost to rebuild a small street bike. After asking the cranky grease monkey mechanic a bunch of questions about my project he responded. "You know kid we can do almost anything but money talks and bullshit walks".
I think the same could be said here.
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NL: Review Block - Motherboards Cases and Coolers
Published: Friday, June 15, 2012 | By: DennisI'm still trying to get caught up after being away for Computex, had there been someone here posting news for me while i was gone this wouldn't be an issue. Instead it would seem most people are more interested in getting review product they don't have to pay for than doing actual work which isn't right.
Needless to say there are some sites out there that do reviews for a living and below is few that filtered into the news box.
Motherboards
- Gigabyte Z77X-UD3H Motherboard Review @ HCW
- ASRock H77 Pro4 MVP Intel LGA 1155 Motherboard Review
- ASUS Maximus V Gene Intel Z77 Express LGA 1155 @ techPowerUp
- ECS Z77H2-AX Gold Edition @ PureOverclock
- ASRock Z77 Fatal1ty Professional @ PureOverclock
Chassis
- LEPA LPC302 Mid-Tower Case Review @ HardwareLOOK
- Corsair Obsidian 550D Mid-Tower Quiet Chassis Review @ Techgage
- Silverstone Fortress FT03 Mini Case Review (seems a little disrespectful having "butt" in the URL)
- Lian Li PC-TU200 @ techPowerUp
- Corsair Carbide 500R @ PureOverclock
- MSI Ravager Case @ LanOC Reviews
- Corsair Obsidian 550D review
- Corsair Obsidian 550D Case Review @ HardwareHeaven
- Cooler Master Cosmos II Ultra Tower Chassis Review @ OCIA
Coolers
- Noctua NH-L12 CPU Cooler Review on Technic3D
- Antec H20 920 CPU Cooler Review on Technic3D
- Funky Kit Review: Thermaltake Water 2.0 Performer
- XIGMATEK Dark Knight SD-1283 Night Hawk Edition CPU Cooler Review @ NikKTech
- Thermaltake Water 2.0 Performer CPU Water Cooler Review @ Legit ReviewsI have some good reviews in the works including a revist to the Gigabyte Z77 using a shiny new Core i7 3770K that I scored from the computer market in Taipei.
