Friday, March 9, 2012

Holy Semiconductors! IBM Reveals 1Tbps Holey Optical Chip

Holy Semiconductors! IBM Reveals 1Tbps Holey Optical Chip

Holy Semiconductors! IBM Reveals 1Tbps Holey Optical Chip

Posted: 08 Mar 2012 10:05 AM PST

IBM on Thursday introduced a prototype chip dubbed the "Holey Optochip," a wedding of traditional computer chip technology with the use of optical pathways. Able to transmit 1 terabit of data per second, the prototype chipset could eventually result in faster downloads of information like apps and streaming video. The prototype to be discussed at the Optical Fiber Communications Conference in Los Angeles, Calif., carries with it staggering processor power yet uses off-the-shelf silicon.

Apple Ready to Go Off the Google Map?

Posted: 08 Mar 2012 01:55 PM PST

Apple's newest version of iPhoto, as shown yesterday during its announcement about the latest iPad, is using maps from OpenStreetMaps instead of Google Maps for its journals and slideshow features. Google Maps is still the default source of data for other areas of iOS, but iPhoto maps are now using information that the company generated by using OpenStreetMaps. That organization gathers data from open resources such as GPS devices, government data and local knowledge to put together detailed map information.

Solar Belch Could Stink Up Energy and Communications Networks

Posted: 08 Mar 2012 10:49 AM PST

Solar flares -- clouds of charged particles and plasma from the sun -- have hit Earth, according to the National Weather Service. The solar flares have been making their way toward the planet since Sunday. The storms don't generally cause direct physical damage to people because the Earth's magnetic field repels much of the radiation. However, as climate scientists learned during a previous solar flare in 2002, the storms can seriously disrupt GPS signals, radio communications and the power grid.

Diving Into GIS: A Starter Guide

Posted: 08 Mar 2012 05:00 AM PST

If you were looking at television weather maps during last week's U.S. tornado activity, you were looking at a GIS, or Geographic Information System. Those red and purple splotches racing across the screen represented intensity levels of rotating storm cells. The map itself, the county lines, and the splotches were all data layer elements making up the map. GIS is a system for capturing, storing, manipulating, analyzing, organizing, and displaying data as it pertains to a geographic area. A GIS like the one shown on TV can be developed with any number of Feature Layers driven by a database.

New iPad: One Giant Leap for Power Users, One Small Step for Everyone Else

Posted: 08 Mar 2012 05:00 AM PST

Apple handily increased its lead in the tablet and HDTV set-top box space when it revealed its new iPad and new Apple TV at its media event Wednesday. Why huge? The raw specs on the new iPad give awesome Retina HD screen capabilities, and the A5X chip is a dual-core bad boy with quad-core graphics capabilities. What does this mean? Gorgeous graphics and silky smooth flicking and zooming with text so sharp it will look like glowing printed paper -- and that's if you're only reading novels.

OpenSUSE, Linus' Daughter, and a Question of Security

Posted: 08 Mar 2012 05:00 AM PST

There's nothing like a rant to get the conversational ball rolling here in the Linux blogosphere, and if it can be a rant from Linus Torvalds himself, well, it doesn't get much better than that. That, in fact, is just what last week afforded in the form of a Google+ post from the father of Linux on the topic of openSUSE security. "I don't think I can talk about 'security' people without cursing, so you might want to avert your eyes now," Torvalds began. "I gave OpenSUSE a try, because it worked so well at install-time on the Macbook Air, but I have to say, I've had enough."
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