Tuesday, June 30, 2015

IT News Head Lines (Overclockers Club) 7/1/2015

Overclockers Club



Google to Build Data Center in Alabama Power Plant
Google has announced an agreement to build its 14th data center in a coal based power plant in Alabama, with an intent to work with the Tennessee Valley Authority "to scout for new renewable power projects and put them online." Google is hoping to bring in alternative power sources to help make the data center more environmentally friendly. Construction of the data center is expected to begin next year while the last coal generator in the plant is expected to shut down in October of this year. The power plant site presents several advantages for data center construction including access to a water supply for cooling computers, well-built structures, and rail line conduits that can be modified to run fiber optic cables.
Source: NY Times


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AMD Radeon R9 Fury X Facing Noise Issues
Several users have reported noise issues with their new AMD Radeon R9 Fury X graphics cards described as "coil whine and pump noise" that occurs "even under idle load." The chief suspect of causing the noise appears to be the all-in-one water pump bundled as part of the cooling system, in this case made by Cooler Master. AMD representative Antal Tungler addressed the concerns and "confirmed that the problem exists in early production units. However a fix (for the pump whine) has been applied by Cooler Master USA and it is hoped that the problem has been resolved for future R9 Fury X units."
Source: WCCF Tech


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First Full-Color, Flexible, Thin Film Display Developed
Camouflage is something some creatures do better than others, with the masters definitely being those that can actively change the color of their skin. This ability has inspired many to try to recreate it technologically, and researchers at the University of Central Florida have done just that. This new display checks the boxes for flexibility, being full-color, skin-like, and thin, while also being relatively easy to make.
Unlike traditional displays, like those are you most likely reading this on, this new display does not have a light source, and instead reflects ambient light for illumination. It is made of a liquid crystal layer on top of a metallic nanostructure shaped like an egg carton, and it all comes to being just a few microns thick. Changing the color just requires changing the voltage applied to the pixel, as the electricity alters how the liquid crystal molecules interact with the plasmon waves of the metal, causing different colored light to be reflected. This allows the display to be full-color, while other, similar displays already developed offer only a limited color palette.
To create the display, the researchers used an inexpensive nano-imprinting method that can make the structure over a large area. This opens up many applications for the technology, such as clothing that can have color and pattern changed at will, depending on the occasion or the environment.
Source: University of Central Florida


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Hardware Roundup: Monday, June 29, 2015, Edition
The last couple days of June are here, with some reviews to get your week started off right. We have a look at the SilverStone Fortress FT04 case, a large and unique model that is sure to hold whatever amount of hardware and water cooling gear you can get your hands on. The Synology DiskStation DS1515 NAS is deal for home use and small businesses, as it can hold five 3.5" drives, or be expanded further to support fifteen. A couple of smartphones get tested, with the Mlais M7 and Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge being put through a suite of benchmarks. Finishing it off is an overview of the IP licensing model and everything it entails.
Cases

SilverStone Fortress FT04 @ ThinkComputers
Storage/Hard Drives

Synology DiskStation DS1515 @ TechSpot
Mobile

Mlais M7 @ Madshrimps

Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge @ LanOC Reviews
Miscellany

The IP licensing business model. A love story. @ PC Perspective


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Fiber Optic Communication Given Significant Boost
Fiber optics comprises the backbone of the Internet, carrying all of the information from point to point, so it can ultimately reach our devices. Despite this though, there are still some significant limitations on the technology, including a limit on the amount of power a signal can have. Thanks to researchers at the University of California, San Diego though, that limitation may soon be removed.
Normally one would expect that to make a signal go farther, they should make it more powerful, like yelling to be heard over a greater distance. This is not the case with fiber optics though, because increasing the power of the optical signals also increases the crosstalk between the channels, which makes recovering the data more difficult. The solution developed at UCSD, and first proposed last year, is to take advantage of the physics of crosstalk with a frequency comb. Because crosstalk is governed by specific physics, it is possible to tune the signals, with the frequency comb, so that what crosstalk occurs can be easily filtered it. This allowed the researchers to send optical signals at some 20 times normal power, without losing data.
Applying this, the researchers were able to send and successfully decipher signals that travelled through 12,000 Km of fiber optic cables without repeaters, which are otherwise needed. By removing the need for repeaters, it should be possible to significantly improve the speed and range of fiber optic networks, while also reducing their cost.
Source: University of California, San Diego


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NVIDIA Driver Update Reveals Tesla M60, Quadro M5000, and Quadro M4000 Professional GPUs
NVIDIA is apparently readying its Tesla M60, Quadro M5000, and Quadro M4000 professional graphics cards, as the latest driver from the technology company offers support for the products. While configurations of the cards remain unknown at this time, it is known that the Tesla M60 will be based on the GM204 GPU while the Quadro M5000 and Quadro M4000 will be based on the GM204GL graphics processor. NVIDIA is expected to launch the Quadro M cards at SIGGRAPH, since it previously announced the Quadro Kx2 parts during the same event. SIGGRAPH 2015, which is this year’s annual conference on computer graphics convened by the ACM SIGGRAPH organization, begins on August 9.
Source: VideoCardz.com


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Available Tags:Google , AMD , Radeon , Hardware , NVIDIA , Driver

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