Google Revamps Hangouts On The Web
While the new website wont satisfy users who still want a dedicated Hangouts application for their computers, it's a much nicer experience than using it through Google+ or the old website. The page background rotates through a gallery of images from Google+ users, and the interface itself is instantly familiar to users who use the Hangouts application on the iOS or Android devices. Although the page has a Material Design inspired interface, the chat windows themselves have the same old Holo appearance, and really fit poorly with the rest of the site. Hopefully an update to the chat windows is something Google has planned for the near future. Anyone who wants to try out the new Hangouts website can do so by visiting the new web page here.
Source: Google via The Verge
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Google Releases Final M Preview: Android 6.0 Marshmallow
Today Google released the third developer preview for the M release and at the same time also reveals its official codename as well as final version name: Android 6.0 Marshmallow. The new version officially bumps up the API number to version 23.
The hardware device images for the Nexus 5, 6, 9 and Player are now available for download on the developer pages. Compared to the previous preview there is now a new and final permissions user interface as well improvements to the fingerprint API, with surely many more bugfixes and stability improvements.
The Android SDK has also been officially bumped up to version 6.0 which can now be updated via the SDK Manager. Documentation for all API 23 changes can now be found in the developer reference pages.
Source: Android developer blog
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A Quick Look at LG G4 Leather Back Covers
As far as I can tell, these leather back covers come in two distinct types of textures. Most of the available colors have a relatively stiff and coarse texture to them, but others have a softer, finer texture. However, both back covers use similar processes, namely vegetable tanning with a coating applied over the tanned full-grain leather to keep the leather stain resistant, which is cut down to 0.45mm thick. The whole process is said to take 12 weeks.
Subjectively, the leather covers are actually surprising in terms of how they improve the look and feel of the G4. The stitching on these back covers is probably somewhat controversial as it doesn’t serve much purpose, but it does help somewhat with gripping the phone and the stitching is actually real thread, which is at least somewhat surprising given that we’ve seen phones with fake stitching patterns on the back cover before. If you’re looking for a good way to improve the in-hand feel of the G4 and add some personalization in the process ala Motomaker, these back covers aren’t a bad way to accomplish that.
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The Cyonic AU-550x PSU Review
In this review, we are getting acquainted with a new PSU manufacturer, Cyonic. The newly founded brand offers just six units at this time, three of which are modular and three are of classic design, with power ratings ranging from 450 to 650 Watts. All the power supplues are based on the same underlying platform, and we are testing the modular 550 Watt unit in this review.
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Rambus To Go Into Fabless Chip Production, Announces RB26 DDR4 DIMM Chipset
Meanwhile with the DRAM market having unified behind JEDEC standards – DDR4, GDDR5, and HBM – Rambus’s influence has been limited to that of a smaller player, though one still holding a selection of major DRAM patents. As a result there has been some speculation over just what the future would hold for a company whose newer DRAM designs have been ignored. With the 2015 Intel Developer Forum kicking off this week we finally have the answer to that question: Rambus will be making the transition from an IP licensing business to a true fabless semiconductor firm, designing and selling their own products.
For their entry into the world of chip design and sales, at this week’s IDF Rambus is announcing that they will be designing and selling DDR4 DIMM chipsets. The chips, which will trade under the R+ chipset family, will be for Registered DIMMs (RDIMMs) and Load Reduced DIMMs (LRDIMMs) for server usage, with Rambus producing both the Register Clock Driver (RCD) chip for RDIMM/LRDIMM, and the data buffer chips for LRDIMMs.
As we have covered in the past, RDIMMs and LRDIMMs allow servers to expand the amount of memory they can address and to do so at higher speeds. By interfacing with an RDIMM’s RCD to better organize address and command signals, a CPU memory controller can handle more DIMMs and more memory per DIMM than standard unbuffered memory. LRDIMMs in turn take this one step further by attaching buffers to the data bus of each RAM chip on a DIMM – essentially changing DIMM bus operation to a type of serial mode – yet again increasing the amount of memory servers can address and the speeds they can work at. The tradeoff is of course DIMM cost due to extra chips, and depending on the configuration performance as well, but in return servers can accept far more memory than what a standard unbuffered bus would allow.
Rambus for their part sees a place for themselves in the current DIMM market for supplying the register and buffer chips used for DDR4 RDIMM/LRDIMMs, as DDR4 imposes further limitations in order to reach its greater speeds. This in turn is where Rambus is looking to capitalize on their experience with high speed memory, as they believe it gives them a leg up in producing DDR4 chipsets for both speed and reliability. The company’s first chipset, the RB26, will be compliant with DDR4-2666 specifications, and eventually Rambus wants to take it to DDR4-2933.
Meanwhile, although Rambus is producing their own DIMM chipsets, they will not be producing their own DIMMs or DRAM. Rather the company will be offering their chipsets for sale to the DIMM vendors – Hynix, Micron, Samsung, etc – for those companies to use in building their respective RDIMMs and LPDIMMs. Ultimately such DIMMs would end up in the hands of server manufacturers and operators for their respective systems, with Intel’s latest Xeon processors being the catalyst.
Going forward, Rambus is aiming to turn this into a regular business for the company. Besides the RB26 chipset, which is sampling low and will be in production in Q4, the company is also already in the process of developing future generations of chipsets to further boost performance and reduce power consumption.
Finally, as for Rambus’s foray into fabless manufacturing, given the difficulties the company has seen in getting their DRAM technology adopted, the move into making chipsets for DDR4 is an interesting and somewhat unexpected one for a company who has traditionally only licensed IP, but also a logical one in their current situation. Though the company officially hasn’t thrown in the towel on their own DRAM standards, embracing the JEDEC standards rather than competing with them is the safer move given the momentum behind DDR4 and other standards. Meanwhile transitioning from pure licensing to selling their own chips is going to be a big – and undeniably risky – step for Rambus, but again owing to their background and history, it’s the move that makes the most sense as it means they aren’t wholly reliant on licensing to other companies to bring their designs to life, for all of the benefits and challenges that entails.
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Google Reveals Next Dessert Title: Android Marshmallow
Android 'M' finally advances out of its codename
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Star Wars Spinoff Film "Rogue One", Theme Park Attractions Announced
Side story will debut in Dec. 2016; boasts Godzilla director and award-winning cast
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