On the Way to More Efficient Processors

Traditionally software has been optimized for performance, so every cycle and resource is used to its fullest potential. Now researchers from the University of Texas at Austin and the Australian National University are suggesting programmers look toward more energy efficient practices, with the help of advanced power profiles.

In certain situations, the architecture of a piece of hardware can impact performance. For example, Intel CPUs have been known to outperform AMD’s counterparts for intensive video editing operations. Instead of performance though, these researchers are looking at power draw, and have already seen different classes of software use really different amounts of power. Though their measurements are the first of their kind they will likely not be the last, especially has Intel has released a chip with an exposed power meter. This will allow programmers to see just how much power their software needs.

Naturally, optimizing energy efficiency may come at the cost of performance, but in some circumstance, such as cell phones and other battery-powered devices, performance is of lesser importance. Already software developers and hardware manufacturers are working to improve their designs; this research shows the value of their efforts.

Boycott SOPA: There’s an App for That

Some may think this goes too far and others may think it does not go far enough. Regardless, it exists. The Boycott SOPA app in the Android Market, coupled with the Barcode Scanner app, allows any Android phone to identify if a product is linked to a company supporting SOPA. The app uses the barcode scanner to find out what product you are looking at, and then checks it against a list of companies and bands. The list can be viewed on the developer’s website and includes not only SOPA supporting companies, but companies strongly affiliated with those that do. There are currently 879 entries on the list, which will grow and diminish as companies change their stance on SOPA.

DARPA Wants Programmers to Create Their App Library

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, better known as DARPA, is looking for talented app programmers to work with their ADAPT program. ADAPT is the Adaptable Sensor System and uses a variety of different sensors such as accelerometers and cameras. Basically, ADAPT systems use the same base hardware with differing sensors, interfaces, and power sources to best suit the mission.

This concept is not dissimilar to modern smartphones which have a multitude of sensors and similar base hardware. The people at DARPA want to capitalize on this similarity by getting app developers to work with their system to make programs compatible across all ADAPT systems. Ideally this would enable a foot soldier with a tablet to monitor an unmanned sensor, or another warrior to control a swarm of small UAVs in an Intelligence, Surveillance, reconnaissance (ISR) mission with a similar portable interface.

The end result DARPA hopes for is an ever growing library of apps and the development period being on the order of months, instead of years.

NVIDIA GeForce 290.36 Beta Drivers Released

We have seen several games release over the past month or so, which means new video card drivers are always right behind. Today, we have some new beta drivers from NVIDIA that improve performance in Batman: Arkham City as well as a few fixes for Battlefield 3, Crysis 2, and Settlers 7. The 290.36 beta drivers also add Ambient Occlusion support for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. The Ambient Occlusion helps those two games look a ton better by providing more realistic shadows, but if the Quality mode proves too demanding then NVIDIA recommends dropping down to Performance. Battlefield 3 gets a fix to remove the random triangular artifacts, Crysis 2 has an SLI shadow bug rectified, and Settlers 7 should no longer have any corruption. NVIDIA Surround is also enabled on Intel X79 SLI-certified motherboards, plus SLI profiles and 3D Vision support has been added to many games. For a full list of fixes, additions, and improvements, feel free to hit up the source link.

'Paragon' for Security Developed

From the University of Gothenburg comes an extension for the Java programming language to help close security holes. The greatest risk to information on a computer being leaked is not poor network security or weak encryption but poor programming. As software becomes more complex there are more places for holes to occur, which can then be exploited. This is such a large problem code reviewers are used to find the holes by reading through a program’s code manually.

To speed things up a bit, Paragon has been created. By inputting the specifications desired a programmer can use Paragon to monitor security holes in the software as they write it, or later when it is being compiled. Thus far the analysis power of Paragon proving to be greater than earlier attempts in the field.

3DMark for Windows 8 Announced

Microsoft may not be releasing Windows 8 for a while, but that does not mean there are not announcements concerning the new OS. Futuremark is one of the leading PC benchmark companies around, with tests for the graphics card as well as the entire system. Today, Futuremark has announced 3DMark for Windows 8, which will test the graphics capability of any device running the new OS. Now, 3DMark for Windows 8 is just the working title, but the final product will be able to run on tablets, laptops, and desktops to see just how powerful your new system, in whatever shape, truly is graphically. The new 3DMark will support both x86 and ARM processors, and will work in the Metro UI and "classic" Windows modes. It will test all of the graphical capabilities of any device running Windows 8, regardless of what graphics the device uses. It looks like Futuremark is adapting to Microsoft's Windows 8 strategy, and it is good to see we will have a way to benchmark the new OS.

3DMark for Windows 8 will release in 2012, but you can run 3DMark 11, 3DMark Vantage, and 3DMark06 on any of your current systems now.

GPU-Z 0.5.5 Available

The most recent version of popular graphics utility GPU-Z, version 0.5.5, is now available. GPU-Z 0.5.5 brings a variety of updates, including full support for the Radeon graphics processor within AMD A-Series Accelerated Processing Units (APUs). Other newly-supported GPUs include NVIDIA's GeForce GT 560 Ti OEM, GT 545, GT 530, the GeForce GTX 580M, GT 555M, GeForce 520MX, GT 520M, 410M, 305M, Quadro 5000, Quadro 4000M and the Quadro 400. AMD GPUs now supported include the Radeon HD 6290, Radeon E6760 and E4690, along with the FirePro V8800, V3700 and 2460 (FireMV). GPU-Z 0.5.5 adds a new feature for multi-GPU systems, saving the GPU selected when it was last closed, and restoring this selection on restart. BIOS reading for NVIDIA GPUs has also been enhanced.  GPU-Z 0.5.5 is available now for download at TechPowerUp.

Financial Articles Written in Seconds with Software

On the floor of any stock exchange in the world, speed is paramount. Traders who get the information first get to react first and even a few seconds can make or loss them money. To get things going at super-speed, the new company MarketBrief has created software “journalists” that can write an article in three to 20 seconds. The key to the system is the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) uses eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) to publish its fillings. The software scans the fillings for keywords or numbers and inserts them into pre-defined sentences. The result may be very simple and boring, but considering it will beat a human journalist in a race every time, the traders who use it, probably won’t mind.

Skype Updates To Version 5.3 For Mac

After the acquisition of Skype, it seems like the company has been pushing out updates to its service like crazy. Recently, it has added integration with the social networking site Facebook, released an optimized version for users of the iPad, added more device support regarding the Android Operating System, and also updated the Window client to support the social network integration move. Skype has now pushed out a new version for the Mac OS X, enabling HD video support, something Windows users have been enjoying since last year. All of these things have happened in just the last month, and Skype plans on increasing their update rate even more, as tech enthusiasts continue to use the service on their computer, tablet devices, and mobile cellular phones to make calls and video chats at home and abroad.

Chrome Hits Version 13

In the browser wars, it seems like the number game just cannot stop, with Mozilla announcing new versions on a more frequent basis than previously, Microsoft pushing Internet Explorer more than ever, and Google touting a new number every other month. Google has continued this trend with Chrome now hitting version 13, offering a few new features as well as the usual speed and security enhancements that users come to expect. One of the new features available to users is called Instant Pages, which will prefetch pages based on common likes. This works based on a specific users general preferences that the browser notices through use, and will automatically start loading pages in the background that it thinks the user will click next, if confident enough. Also included in this version for Windows and Linux is print preview for both Operating Systems, which Google has had much requests about.

Computer Reads Manual to Win Game

If you are at all concerned about a robot apocalypse and enslavement of the human race, do not read this. Researchers at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab have created an AI program that learns how to read, to improve its success. To test the program it was asked to do two things. The first was to install a program, with only the instructions on Microsoft’s website to guide it. Its success won the team best-paper award at the Association for Computational Linguistics' 2009 meeting. The second test was to play the game Freeciv, an open source reimplementation of Civilization II, by only reading the manual for Civilization II. Games are often used for testing AI because of their highly complex nature and an opponent’s reaction to a player’s move will change randomly, preventing the player from simply memorizing all the reactions. When the AI, with access to the manual, played the game (MIT AI versus game AI) it was victorious 78.8% of the time, with a standard error of ± 5.8. The game's own AI which, when set against itself (game AI versus game AI), won only 45.7% of the time, with a standard error of ± 7.0. Obviously the MIT AI was more victorious, but the smaller standard error implies a greater consistency in the outcomes of the 50 full length games played.

Not bad considering the AI started playing before it could read. The research team is currently adapting their meaning-inferring algorithms to robotic systems.

Adobe Pulls Consumers In

With Apple recently releasing the new version of their Final Cut Pro program, reviews have started to pop up all over the Internet. Sadly, the program has received horrible ratings, and consumers are looking for something else at this point. Adobe is agreeing obviously, and is trying to get consumers to switch over to their comparable products, which include both Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5 and CS5.5 Production Premium. Most users of these programs, or those users who work in the field of video production, realize that the Adobe counterparts are quite expensive. However, in order to get consumers to switch from the incredibly disliked Apple product, Adobe is offering both the previously stated products for fifty percent off. Even if the user is not using the latest version of Final Cut Pro, they can still switch over and take full advantage of the discount. These savings also apply for users of the Avid Media Composer, but the sale will cease to exist on September 30 for both products.

Microsoft Gains Approval Over Skype Purchase

The proposition from Microsoft to purchase Skype for $8.5 billion has been known for about a month so far. Although the plan was laid out for the acquisition, it took until today for the OK from the US Federal Trade Commission. If this absorption of Skype is completed, it could open many new opportunities for connecting devices and enabling new avenues of communication. The agreement mentions Xbox and Kinect support along with Windows Phone integration. Through this purchase, Skype would become a permanent part of the Microsoft organization and would have a good chance to be further integrated into future software and hardware. Admittedly, Skype may not be the most profitable company through the current model, losing $7 million in 2010, but perhaps Microsoft envisions a way to change this. 

New Version of Catalyst is Out

AMD has now released its newest version of Catalyst, namely the 11.6. It’s said to deliver snappier GPU performance, introduce new features and get rid of various bugs. Radeon HD 6000-series owners can expect around 5-10% increase in speed when running certain configurations in Far Cry 2, H.A.W.X, F1 2010, Crysis and Unigine OpenGL tests. AMD has also added a new post-processing feature named “Steady Video”. It’s based on AMD APP Technology. By using an advanced algorithm, it can help stabilize jittery handheld video footage – including YouTube videos. As of now, the steady feature is only available for owners of a modern AMD CPU, so Intel owners are left outside at the moment. 

Resolved issues for Windows 7:

• Flashing titles are no longer displayed when playing F1 2010 in a Crossfire environment.
• Video playback no longer intermittently displays a black screen when using Windows Media Player.
• Graphics and Gaming scores are now correctly computed in the Windows Performance Index.
• A BSOD error is no longer generated randomly when Crossfire is enabled/disabled after video/LCD overdrive settings are changed on HD 6900 series products.
• Crossfire is now correctly enabled when playing The Witcher 2 on HD 6800 series products. (when used with AMD Catalyst 11.5 CAP 5 release)
• Screen tearing is no longer randomly seen when playing Riddick 2 at high performance settings and with Crossfire enabled.
• The game King's Bounty now renders correctly.
• The game Empire: Total War now no longer displays random flickering and in-game buttons display correctly.
• Google Earth now performs smoothly in OpenGL mode.
• Crossfire is now correctly enabled when playing Cars 2 on HD 6900 series products.
• Sid Meier's Civilization V no longer displays intermittent graphical corruption when played in DirectX 10 mode in a Crossfire environment.
• Heaven 2.1 running in DirectX 11 mode no longer displays intermittent graphical corruption in a Crossfire environment.
• Crossfire is correctly enabled when playing LEGO : Pirates of the Caribbean on HD6800 and HD 6900 series products.
• Poor performance is no longer experienced while playing Heroes of Newerth and when the cursor is moved to the top right or bottom right corner of the screen.
• Mouse cursor corruption (in the upper right portion of the screen) should be resolved

Microsoft Brags About Office 2010

It’s only been a year since the release of Microsoft Office 2010, and Microsoft is now ready to share some milestones. According to Microsoft, Office 2010 is being deployed five times faster than Office 2007 by its business customers. It’s said to be the fastest selling version of Office, though it doesn’t have any numbers to back it up. Also in a recent survey done of Office 2010 users, 90% said that it’s the best Office version they’ve tried. A staggering 96% say that they’ll recommend it to others. According to the infographic released by Microsoft, a total of 1 billion computers have Microsoft Office installed. Are you one of them?

Logitech Expects to Gain From the Skype Purchase

Analysts have recently said that companies like Logitech’s LifeSize would be the first to get hit if Microsoft manages to turn Skype more toward businesses. Craig Mallow, chief executive of Logitech’s LifeSize, dismisses the fear that Microsoft’s acquisition of Skype will have a negative impact on LifeSize’s business. According to Malloy, it’s quite the contrary. He believes that the purchase of Skype will help boost the sales. He explains it by saying that Microsoft wouldn’t spend such a large amount of money if there was no potential for growth the following years. Another reason for the positive attitude at Logitech is because of the potential increase of webcam sales. Microsoft's purchase is not the only one. Cisco bought the Norwegian Tandberg, and Polycom bought HP’s videoconferencing unit this month.

Microsoft Loses Supreme Court Appeal

This week, the Supreme Court has upheld a judgment against Microsoft for $290 million for patent infringement stemming from a 2007 lawsuit. Microsoft was sued by a company called i4i for using a patented editing tool in Microsoft Word 2003 and 2007 without first gaining the permission of i4i. Microsoft’s only argument was that the patent was “invalid”, also telling the court that the standard for proving invalidity should be less rigorous than standards used by the lower courts. Microsoft lost the appeal by an 8-0 vote, as Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that the law clearly states that once a patent has been granted, it is presumed valid. John Roberts, who is the Chief Justice of the nation’s highest court, did not participate in the case, as he owns more than $100,000 in Microsoft stock. Microsoft has yet to pay the damages, which are expected to be over $300 million when interest is added.

Programming a Greener Future

At least in the United States, more and more of what we use and surrounds us is going “green.” Here at Overclockers Club we may be more inclined to purchase the higher efficiency PSU or the more efficient graphics card not only to help the environment but also to help our wallets because less heat means less power and, therefore, less to pay the electric company. Researchers at the University of Washington are looking to make our computers and other technology greener, but not exclusively with new hardware.

With their new system, EnergJ, energy consumption has been shown to drop by as much as 50% in simulations. How can this be accomplished with only 1s and 0s, you ask? By allowing errors in the bytes. Not all of the data our computers, servers, phones, etc. use need to be exact; much can be approximate. For example, streaming audio or video will not suffer from a few errors. Loosen tolerances and drop the voltages on some of your transistors and there you have it, a way to help the environment!

This system would be most beneficial when coupled with new hardware featuring transistors meant for a lower voltage which could allow for a 90% drop in power used. Just a software only implementation, by rounding values off or skipping accuracy checks, could reduce power usage by 30-50%.

EnergJ is written in Java and the researchers hope to have it released as an open-source tool this summer.

Apple to Unveil OS X Lion, iOS 5, and iCloud Next Week

In a break from its usual modus operandi, Apple has sent out a press release detailing just what it is going to announce next week at the company’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference. This comes as a surprise to many in the industry, as Apple is usually very tight-lipped about what it’s going to be announcing, normally sending out press invites consisting of a picture and a date. In the press release, Apple announced that the keynote address by CEO Steve Jobs will unveil Mac OS X Lion and iOS 5. It also confirmed the recent rumors that a cloud-based music service is on the way with the announcement that iCloud will also be discussed in the address.

Boxee Update Fixes Issues

Many users that own the Boxee Box complained that their audio, concerning five speaker surround sound, was immensely broken once the 1.1 update was pushed. There has been a new fix however that has just been released which cures the surround sound issue, though the change of not internally decoding Dolby TrueHD to 5.1 channel PCM still remains, probably due to licensing problems. However another change that was made was involving the volume control, which can now be easily turned back on within the settings menu by a simple check box. Luckily the issue of surround sound did not occur for too long, as many consumers that own the Boxee Box were constantly complaining on many websites across the Internet and were contemplating other home media options.

Google Docs Android App Released

Google today released the Android app for its popular cloud-based office suite, Google Docs. The new app enables users to "create, edit, upload and share" documents from their Android-enabled device. Standard features include a document, PDF and image viewer along with the ability to share documents with contacts. The app also includes a simple widget for the home screen featuring three buttons. The widget allows users to easily access their documents list and Starred documents, or create a new document, with the option of using the device's camera and OCR technology to produce a document. The Google Docs app for Android supports Android 2.1 or above and is available for free from the Android Marketplace.

Google Releases Chrome 11

With all of the new releases coming out concerning Internet browsers, it seems like the browser war is continuing, and turning into somewhat of a number build war. Either way, Google has just pushed out its latest update, dubbed Chrome 11, which does not feature many updates besides security fixes and bug patches that have been plaguing the program. Also included with this new version however is speech to text, along with text to speech, which could change web browsing as some people know it for those suffering from disabilities. The logo for the program is now back to the flat style that was previously shown off to the public, and it seem like the revised look is here to stay, with all of its flatness and simplistic design.

Webcam Program Coming To Windows

With Microsoft coming off with more new features in every build of Windows 8, more users are leaking the information to the public, whether fully true or not. It seems like the new Windows Operating System will feature a dedicated webcam program in the latest build, which though is rough right now, could be improved on quite a bit over time. As of right now, the webcam program has the ability to take picture, either on the fly or timed, along with record video. Settings are also pretty basic with application settings along with webcam settings being included in the new Windows addition, with ten total settings being able to be adjusted between both. Some of these include zoom, exposure, resolution, frame rate, and more, with hopefully more features being included as the program develops alongside Windows 8.

Microsoft Holds Open Beta For Cloud Based Office

Microsoft is nearing its release of the new Office 365 cloud service and is currently allowing users to beta test it in up to 38 countries. The plan is to have Office 365 available later this year and to have the servers always running for instant access wherever Internet is available. Office 365 is an extension of Microsoft's Web Apps featuring Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, with new additions of Exchange and SharePoint. Once the free beta period expires, small business owners will be required to pay a monthly membership fee of $6 per account and larger businesses given the option of plans ranging from $10 to $27 per individual employee. Microsoft also plans to offer some rate plans for educational users as well, but pricing has not yet been made clear.

Apple's 5th Generation iOS Finally Gets Flash... Sort Of

The iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touches are very powerful devices, though Apple has withheld a key feature which should be mandatory on any web enabled device. I'm of course referring to Adobe's Flash Player, the medium which over 90% of Internet capable machines utilize. With the new upcoming iOS5, Flash will not run natively but will be able to stream Flash related content through Apple's up-to-date HTML5 browser. Unfortunately Flash based games and advertisements will not yet be supported but the majority of Flash videos are HTML5 compatible so the devices will still be far better off. Whether Apple's later versions of iOS will support full blown Flash is unclear, but it is great to know that steps are at least being taken to prevent users of these devices from missing out on the full Internet experience.

Pricing and Release Date for PCMark 7 Announced

Last month we reported on PCMark 7 for Windows 7, the new benchmarking tool from Futuremark that covers your entire computer. What was not known that was the price we would have to pay and exactly when we could get it. Wait no longer as Futuremark has announced the pricing and release date for PCMark 7. The benchmarking suite will launch on May 3rd and comes in three flavors. There is the Basic Edition which offers unlimited runs of the PCMark test suite and one saved online result for zero dollars. Next is the Advanced Edition which includes seven PC tests with more than 25 individual workloads and unlimited saved online results for $39.95. Lastly there is the Professional Edition which is aimed for commercial entities and includes everything the Advanced Editon offers, albeit at the corporate price of $995. The Advanced and Professional Editions can be pre-ordered now from the PCMark website.

Internet Explorer Leaves Vista Behind

Even though Windows Vista has not aged all that much since its initial release, it is a downward spiral for Microsoft as the total user numbers for the Operating System continue to fall. With the latest release of Internet Explorer, though in a preview form, the Redmond company is stating that right now along with when the final version comes, Windows Vista users will be left out and not supported. This is a pretty odd decision by Microsoft, since many companies and users that did take the plunge into Windows Vista are not going to feel pressed to upgrade just because of Internet Explorer, especially with Chrome and Firefox bringing mass competition. Microsoft is claiming that the real reason for this decision is that they would preferably not develop Internet Explorer for the worst performing Operating System right now statistically, which would be Windows Vista. Though it seems like there is no reason why it would not be somewhat easy to do, especially since current stable Internet Explorer release is tied into both Windows 7 and Windows Vista.

New Version Of Final Cut Pro Announced

With Apple providing videos editing, photo enhancement, and audio recording technology, it comes to no surprise that they want to continue their trend in the market. Just announced is the new version of their professional video editing software, Final Cut Pro X. This new version features native 64-bit support so that it may now utilize more than just 4GB of RAM on both newer and old systems. Also included in this program is the technology that allows the software to use many processor cores at once, known by Apple as Grand Central Dispatch. User Interface wise, the program looks a bit more like iMovie, hopefully attracting current novice movie editors who want to move up in the scene, though the $300 price tag might defer new users. Expect to see it in the Mac App Store sometime in June.

Adobe Allows Renting of Software

Adobe has just announced a software rental program where you can rent Adobe's entire suite or an individual program. This new feature is great for everyone as it allows students and buisnesses to use the software for a short period of time. Now you don't have to pay for the entire program just to do one small thing.

There are two different payment plans depending on your needs.

Monthly Plan
A little more expensive but allows flexibility of a short commitment. This is best for students or buisnesses.

Yearly Plan
Lower monthly payment but you are locked in for one year. This is best for a freelancer or anyone who can't afford to purchase the program.

There is currently no rent-to-own plan, but it is possible to see it in the future. It would be great to see a similar feature with other programs.

In addition to the rental program, Adobe has changed its update cycle to 24 months from its previous 18 month cycle. Meaning if you pay for the yearly plan for two years it will be the same price as buying the program. Cnet has done the math, so you can see which method is best for your price plan.

Internet Explorer Teases The Masses

With the recent release of Internet Explorer 9, most consumers figure that they are using the most secure and latest version of the Microsoft version in Internet browsing. The company has however just announced at the MIX developer conference in Las Vegas that Internet Explorer 10 is in the works, and that it can currently be ran on a test drive system to get a feel for the new browser, which is at this time in a preview state. So far the main feature introductions include better support for more web standards such as CSS3 Flexible Box Layout and CSS Gradients. Also in the demonstration that just took place today was another surprise up the sleeve of the Microsoft Windows team, Internet Explorer 10 was shown running on Windows 7 with a 1GHz ARM processor. This brings amazing possibilities to the mobile market, and the slowly fading netbook market as Microsoft is finally able to have its latest Operating System along with its latest revision of Internet Explorer 10, run on an ARM chip.