Tech Wizard

Paul carries ‘Libby’ in his hand luggage. Try explaining that to customs!

Lib-b is a hexapod Paul built and recently exhibited to demonstrate his passion for technology and what can be done with Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio. Technology is all around us but our awareness of how we can use it to make life simple, richer and more fun is very low. The purpose of Paul’s wotudo blog is to shout out stuff you can do, and show you how to do it.

Hear more from Paul at http://www.ilivetocode.com/paul.

Also, don’t miss out on RoboChamps, a series of 3-D simulated challenges that makes robotics available to a lot more people, http://www.robochamps.com/.

In the software domain, especially in that of Linux, Wine needs no introduction. It is one of the most popular software that a Linux user uses. For those who don’t know what Wine is, here is a brief introduction about this wonderful piece of product.

Wine is a translation layer (a program loader) capable of running Windows applications on Linux and other POSIX compatible operating systems. Windows programs running in Wine act as native programs would, running without the performance or memory usage penalties of an emulator, with a similar look and feel to other applications on your desktop.

Today, Wine took another step in the history with the commencement of its new version “1.0-rc2″. This release is a free execution of Windows on UNIX. Basically, the new version comes up with an ample amount of bug fixes. A brief list of changes can be found below.

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Linux; The first word that comes to the mind if any normal human being is an Operating System which is not at all User Friendly, you need to have a real in depth knowledge of Computers to use Linux. Well all this was true earlier but not now! Linux is has developed a lot and is very user-friendly as well! Linux has many Variants like Windows XP has in the form of Home and Professional, these variants of Linux are known as Distro and we are going to talk about the most popular Linux distro “Ubuntu”.

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ASUS today agreed that Asus had sent 5200mAh capacity batteries with their Eee PC to reviewers. The current Eee PC sold to consumers has a 4800mAh battery instead of the 5200mAh one. Asus apologized publicly and said that they are thinking of launching the 5200mAh battery as an add-on to the Eee PC, and accidentally they sent the Eee PC equipped with 5200mAh batteries to the reviewers. Asus said that they are thinking of replacing the 4800mAh batteries with the 5200mAh one to the consumers who have already bought the Eee PC. Something like this is nothing new and many companies have been sending cherry picked products to the reviewers so as to get more points/good comments than their product should.

Microsoft is trying to takeover Yahoo, but it does not look like Yahoo is interested in Microsoft offer as Yahoo has already declined Microsoft offer’s twice. Yesterday Yahoo announced that it’s going to begin a test relationship with Google that would involve the use of Google Adsense Search system. After hearing this news, sources said that there may be a possible partnership between Yahoo and Google so as to strengthen Yahoo’s independence. After hearing this news, Microsoft said that it is already in talk with News Corp to combine resources and takeover Yahoo! This type of acquisition is usually knows as hostile takeover.

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Things could not get worse for AMD. They have been suffering heavy and I mean very big Heavy losses in every quarter after the release of Core 2 Duo’s from Intel. Earlier this week we had reported that AMD will cut 10% of its workforce to help them to improve their financial condition and now AMD’s Chief Technology Officer and Senior Vice President Phil Hester has resigned from AMD. Hester was responsible for setting the architectural and product strategies and plans for AMD’s microprocessor business. AMD has also removed Phil Hester bio from their official website.

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In February Nvidia had launched some information about its Mobile HD platform for handheld devices like PDA’s etc. A recent product briefing by Dailytech further revealed that APX 2500 has a power consumption of only 50mw which allows the chip to run upto 10 hours with a single battery charge, thus making APX 2500 ideal for handheld devices. Nvidia states that the first devices to use the APX 2500 platform will be launched within this year.

Nvidia says that APX 2500 is a single chip processor whose size is less than a dime and the APX 2500 chip will include an ARM 11 core processor with a maximum speed of 750MHz, a Geforce based GPU, a high definition Audio and Video processor, memory and an Input/Output system all within the same package. Though APX 2500 is not bigger than a dime, APX 2500 is capable of running HD videos through HDMI. APX 2500 is stated to deliver high definition video content upto 720p in H.264, Mpeg and VC-1 formats. The Geforce GPU inside APX 2500 is capable of producing 3D graphics with features like programmable pixel shader, vertex and lighting and sampled Anti Aliasing.

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One major problem being faced by Facebook is how to diversify. Facebook has millions of users, the company is worth billions right now and it has been brought by Microsoft and Facebook. Facebook rival and competitor MySpace has been making new innovations and is even going to launch a iTunes competitor. Facebook has now decided to gift its millions of users with Instant Messaging or more popularly known as IM. This new chat feature will be slowly rolled out to millions of Facebook users.

Like AOL, the number 1 Instant Messaging program in US, Facebook also supports only one on one chat. Users also have the option to view previous conversation but they are stored only for a short time. Chatting can be done in two types-either through typing at the bottom of the screen or by using a separate pop up window. Earlier Facebook supported chats only through third party applications. While users have the option to remain in Invisible mode or remain online to all, a nice privacy feature is that users can block someone from chatting from them if they don’t want to chat or that guy is bugging the user.

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Hardcore Overclocker’s already know about liquid cooling since liquid cooling allows them to overclock their processor more than air cooling will allow them to and also liquid cooling cools their processor better thus increasing its life. Liquid Cooling is one of the most extreme and exotic cooling systems for Overclocker’s/Gamers.

In the supercomputer segment companies like IBM have generally relied on air cooling using air conditioner in the room where the supercomputer is present. But things seem to have changed now, IBM’s latest supercomputer called the Power 575 which is equipped with IBM’s latest Power6 Microprocessor has moved from air cooling to liquid cooling using water chilled copper plates located above each processor and thus the new supercomputer requires upto 80% fewer air conditioning units.

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With Blu-ray reaching the higher end laptops, Dell is quite serious about making Blu-ray available in its laptops. Recently, Dell launched its Inspiron 1525 with in built Blu-ray for just $879. The notebook comes with a Blu-ray combo drive and most of the other specsremain the same. These include a Core2Duo T5550 processor (1.83Ghz), a 15″ screen and a HDMI port. Other features which are not so fancy include 1GB RAM, a 80GB HDD and a GMA X3100 graphics accelerator. The notebook might upset those who run resource hungry applications or any gaming freak but considering the face that it offers inbuilt Blu-ray just for $879, it’s a bang for your buck. So if you are a download junkie and always run out of space, just go ahead and grab it.