Sapphire Radeon HD 7790 2GB OC Review
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Cheaply Giving Robots a Sense of Touch
Bad things can happen when something does not know its own strength, whether it be a cartoon dog or a real robot. This is why sensors have been created so robots can feel what they are touching and be gentle with it, if needed. The catch is that some of these sensors can be prohibitively expensive, which is why researchers at Harvard University have designed a new sensor named TakkTile that should be much cheaper to produce.
If you have ever learned about weather, there is a good chance you have been introduced to a barometer before. These useful tools are the singular purpose of measuring air pressure, in an attempt to predict the weather as different weather systems are prefaced by changes in air pressure. Obviously measuring air pressure will not help a robot feel something, which is why the researchers added a piece of vacuum-sealed rubber over the barometers on the TakkTile chip. This rubber allows the pressure of touch to be measured by the barometers and protects them from as much as 25 pounds of pressure, which is enough to survive a hammer or baseball bat strike.
As the design of TakkTile uses common components, such as the tiny barometers found in cellphones, the cost to manufacture them is quite low, even though the process requires access to a vacuum chamber. The researchers are now looking to license the technology to companies interested in producing the sensors for sale or directly incorporating them into devices.
Source: Harvard University
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MSI Launches World's First 27-inch All-in-One PC
I know that the majority of people on OCC takes pride in building the optimal computer for specific tasks; however, sometimes it's easier to go with a pre-built computer, since it's a lot less of a hassle. Especially if you are building for friends and family, and do not want to have to troubleshoot every other week, because they accidently deleted System32 or dropped the computer on the floor.
MSI has released the world's first 27-inch all-in-one PC aimed at gamers. It features a touchscreen with anti-glare coating and a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels, a GTX 670MX with 3GB dedicated GDDR5 RAM, an Intel Core i7-3630QM, up to 16GB, 1TB HDD and an optional SSD. The all-in-one PC can also act as a monitor for consoles such as PS3 and Xbox 360 via HDMI cables. And you can even switch between Windows and the console by pressing the OSD key on the PC.
The all-in-one PC packs some hefty specs, and they should be plenty for most gamer's needs. So if you're approached by a dad asking to build a computer for his 12-year old son who loves gaming, this thing might be an easier alternative to self built computers.
Source: MSI
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A New Competitor to Apple's MacBook Air Emerges
Apple's Macbook Air has finally been dethroned as the lightest and thinnest laptop. A small Taiwanese computer maker called Inhon has recently announced its Blade 13 Carbon laptop that weighs only 870g, which is close to 200g lighter than Macbook Air. The thickness is only 10.7mm, making it a massive 2mm slimmer than its closest competitor. It features a 1080p display, either an i5 or an i7 cpu, up to 256GB SSD, and 4GB of RAM. A cheaper fiberglass version at 12.6mm and 1,195g will also be released. The resolution also goes down on the cheaper version with only 1600x900 pixels. The price for the cheaper version is estimated at around $1,000.
It'll be released in Taiwan in June though no release date for the US market is known. According to Engadget it will be priced at around $1,350, which means it will be able to compete with MacBook Air, so hopefully it'll ship to other continents later this year.
Source: Engadget
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CISPA Bill Passed in the House, Moves to Senate - Anonymous Urges Websites to Go Dark
The other day, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) was passed in the House of Representatives by a vote of 288 to 127. At this point it's moved along to the Senate where it's unknown if it'll pass or die out. You may remember last year when the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA) were stalled and then ultimately delayed. CISPA shares some traits with both to accomplish similar goals, namely that it allows for IPs to share emals and texts with the government if there's a security risk. All information is to be handled by a civilian group to "ensure Americans' civil liberties are protected," if CISPA becomes reality. The White House has threatened to veto CISPA if it passes both the House and Senate, so if it does then hopefully it's vetoed.
Yesterday, Internet hacktivists Anonymous urged websites to go dark today in protest. It's a similar call to the SOPA and PIPA protests last year, so if you happen to notice some of your favorite websites, Facebook pages, or Twitter accounts with a black color scheme, a protest page, or even silent, you know why. There are also petitions to sign to add your voice to the growing numbers.
Source: PC Mag
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Start Button May Not Feature Start Menu in Windows 8.1
Recently, a number of rumours have surfaced regarding the traditional Windows start menu that many users have grown to love returning in the Windows 8.1 update, formerly known as Windows Blue. According to The Verge, the start button in Windows 8.1 may not have the same functionality as in other versions of Windows. After the Windows 8.1 update, clicking on the start button would supposedly bring up the original Windows 8 'Start' screen, and would not include the start menu.
If this is the case, the Start button would have little function, as hovering the mouse over the left corner of the screen would have the same result. This would likely irritate many users holding back from purchasing Windows 8 due to its lack of start menu. As of yet, this is only speculation, however it would be a shame if Microsoft chose to implement the easy option instead of providing a resolution to many users' complaints.
Source: The Verge
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Predicting Facebook Use and Connectedness
With hundreds of millions of active users every day, Facebook is an amazing tool for people to socialize, and naturally sociologists are studying how and why it is used. For many, Facebook represents a way to stay connected with distant friends, but what influences their decision to use Facebook instead of another method? This is what researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia decided to investigate, which led to some interesting discoveries.
The researchers surveyed over 225 college freshmen students about their Facebook connections, emotional connectedness to Facebook, how lonely and anxious they feel, and how much they use alcohol and marijuana. Crunching the numbers revealed that anxiousness, alcohol use and marijuana use all predict how connected one is to Facebook. Both anxiousness and alcohol use positively predicted Facebook connectedness, though for different reasons. Anxious people appear to prefer the site for connecting with people over meeting them in person, while alcohol users are trying to fit in socially, by joining others on Facebook, thereby becoming more emotionally connected to the social network. Marijuana use however has the opposite effect on Facebook connectedness, which the researchers suggest is because its use is less acceptable in society, so people are less likely to post about it.
Curiously, the researchers found that the students who reported most strongly a sense of loneliness, were not emotionally connected to Facebook. However these students were using Facebook to connect with others.
Source: University of Missouri-Columbia
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Hardware Roundup: Monday Edition
We have an interesting selection of items today, starting with a look at an AMD HD 7790 from Gigabyte. On the NVIDIA side, we have the GTX 650Ti Boost in both single card and SLI configurations to see what it can bring to the party. Moving on there's a look at an AZiO Levetron GH808 USB gaming headset that could prove to be a very worthwhile investment for gamers. There's also a review on a Synology NAS, which are very useful for backups and media servers. Next there are three items that cover some varied topics. One looks at the latest patch for Guild Wars 2, another discusses the five best security apps for your Android phone, and the last examines why Google is going to be more valuable than Microsoft. That last one may not be too far off the mark, but you'll have to read on to find out!
Gaming
Inside Look: Guild Wars 2 March Patch @ Think Computers
Video Cards
Gigabyte HD 7790 1GB OC @ LanOC Reviews
GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost & SLI Performance @ Techspot
Speakers/Headphones
AZiO Levetron GH808 USB Gaming Headset @ Benchmark Reviews
Networking
Synology DS213+ High-Performance 2-Bay NAS Server for SMB @ Madshrimps
Mobile
Best 5 Security Apps For Your Android Smartphone @ Think Computers
Miscellany
3 Reasons Why Google Will Be More Valuable Than Microsoft @ Think Computers
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