PowerColor Devil R9 270X Review
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Thunderbolt Ready Program from Intel Hopes to Expand Reach of Interconnect Technology
Intel has announced a new program to broaden the reach of the ultra high speed interconnect technology known as Thunderbolt. Thunderbolt is already included with all new Apple Mac computers and Intel is hoping to increase the number of PC users that have access to the technology. It plans to accomplish this with the new "Thunderbolt Ready" program, which will provide for an extremely easy upgrade. Users will receive a PCIe card and cables to connect the card to an available general purpose input/output, GPIO, header on their motherboard and an empty DisplayPort connector on their motherboard or a video card. The first expansion card and motherboard to participate in the program are from ASUS with its ThunderboltEX II and Z87 Pro motherboard. More companies are expected to release solutions in 2014. Corporate VP and General Manager of Motherboard and Desktop Systems Business Unit at ASUS Joe Hsieh said, "ASUS ThunderboltEX II is the first expansion card certified by Intel as a Thunderbolt 2 upgrade solution — and it gives users a simple, fast and flexible option to upgrade their existing hardware whenever they want."
Source: Intel
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Thin Invisibility Cloak Using Antennas Demonstrated
A classic technology in many works of fiction is a tool to render a user invisible, and is often described as a cloak. When scientists actually learned how to make an object invisible with metamaterials though, 'cloak' would hardly describe the large devices. Researchers at the University of Toronto however have created a thin cloak that operates in a different way than the previous cloaks.
The first invisibility cloaks used metamaterials to cause light to bend in unnatural ways. As this requires special structures to achieve, the devices were somewhat large, and had to completely cover the object to work. This new cloak however uses a layer of antennas covering the object, which is considerably thinner. The antennas create an electromagnetic field that cancels out any light reflected off of the object. As it is only when light reflects off of an object that it can be seen, this renders the object invisible.
Currently the device has only been demonstrated with radio waves, but as the technology matures it should be able to work with light in other parts of the spectrum, including visible light. While the ability to make a target invisible would have an obvious military value, this cloaking technology could also be applied to remove obstacles that would otherwise block wireless signals.
Source: University of Toronto
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Printing Circuits to Reduce Time and Cost
Ever wanted to build your own electrical circuit, but cannot afford the lithographic technology typically used to fabricate them? Thanks to the efforts of researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology, the University of Tokyo, and Microsoft Research, you may be able to print your circuits for only about $300.
By modifying a commercially available inkjet printer, the researchers were able to print working circuits in just sixty seconds. The circuitry was made from silver nanoparticle ink, which took advantage of recent work in how metal particles chemically bond to avoid thermal bonding. Such thermal bonds could actually damage the circuitry, and would at least add time to the process. As important as the ink though was the medium it was printed onto. The researchers found that resin-coated paper, PET film, and glossy photo paper worked well, and that canvas or magnetic sheets did not.
To prove this approach to printing circuits work, the researchers connected a capacitive ribbon with embedded circuits to a drinking glass. This formed a sensor that could measure how much water was in the glass.
Source: Georgia Institute of Technology
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Dota 2 to Receive Three Spirits Update
The Three Spirits update is the latest major update coming to the popular free to play MOBA from Valve, Dota 2. The three Spirits referred to are Storm, Earth, and Ember, with Earth and Ember being new heroes and Storm Spirit receiving a svelte cosmetic change. In addition to the two new heroes, a number of gameplay and other changes have been added. A lane picker utility was added to the hero selection screen, tournament replays will now be available spoiler free, penalties for players in low priority have been changed, among other changes. Several changes have been made to the item system and game economy with the ability to craft items into different items and items now able to accept gems to change their properties. Perhaps most importantly, Valve has given us Diretide, a return of the Halloween game mode from last year where teams fight each other and then join forces against the mighty Roshan.
Source: Valve
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Higher Frequency Added to G.Skill Ripjaws Line
G.Skill has announced the addition of 2133MHz memory to its line of DDR3 Ripjaws SO-DIMM memory modules. The modules operate at 1.35V and are targeted at laptop users, specifically those users with Intel Haswell based systems. The new memory will be available in a 4x2GB configuration and operates at Cas Latency 11. The new Ripjaws are plug and play with all current systems and won't require any modifications to the BIOS of your system to operate at full speed.
Source: Press Release
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New 3D Carbon Allotrope Predicted
Carbon is an important element for modern life, and not just because of its necessity for biochemistry. The element is also found in many materials and devices we use daily, in one form or another. Researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University, Peking University, and the Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics have recently discovered a new, theoretical, three-dimensional form of carbon with the special property of being a conductor at standard temperature and pressure (STP).
The saying may be 'diamonds are forever,' but the chemistry is the opposite as graphite is actually the most stable form of carbon at STP. This means that diamonds, graphene, fullerenes, and nanotubes, if left alone at room temperature and pressure, will eventually decay into graphite. As graphite is a rather poor electrical conductor, researchers have been looking for another crystalline structure of carbon that is stable at STP, but is a good conductor, and it appears the researchers have found one, in theory.
This new form of carbon is comprised of tetrahedrons that interlock to form hexagons, and these hexagons give it its electrical conductivity, like they do in graphene. Being theoretical and early in development though, it may be some time before this carbon allotrope is synthesized, but when it is, it could have applications as a lightweight metal or low-resistance conductor.
Source: Virginia Commonwealth University
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