Originally Mir 1.0 was expected early in the Ubuntu 17.10 development cycle, but with their dramatic shift away from Unity 8 and Mir, that’s no longer happening but there are new plans for Mir 1.0…
Source: Phoronix – Mir 1.0 Now Aiming To Support Wayland Clients Directly
Monthly Archives: June 2017
GeForce Game Ready 384.76 WHQL Drivers
The latest GeForce drivers are optimized for the LawBreakers “Rise Up” Open Beta and the Spider-Man: Homecoming VR Experience. I am not seeing them on the driver page yet, but they should be available to download immediately through GeForce Experience. Check out the release notes for all of the changes.
Changes and Fixed Issues in Version 384.76
[NVIDIA Control Panel] [Command & Conquer Tiberium Alliances]: Fixed a typo in the game name on the Stereoscopic 3D Compatibility page. [1441041]
[3DVision]: CPU bottleneck occurs when 3DVision is enabled. [1823627]
[GeForce GTX 1080/1070/1060] [Prey 2]: Large amount of stuttering occurs throughout gameplay. [1902201]
[Gamestream] [DirectX 12 titles]: DirectX 12 titles fail to capture when streaming. [1903492]
[Firefall]: The game does not run. [1911485]
[GeForce GTX 970] [SLI] [Norton 360]: SLI cannot be enabled unless Norton 360 is disabled or in Safe mode. [1919094]
[Doom 2016] [Vulkan API]: Glitches occur when using the Vulkan API. [1935744]
[No Man’s Sky] [SLI]: Texture corruption appears in the game with SLI enabled. [200257478]
[Windows Store video app]: Video playback is choppy with V-Sync OFF. [200314351]
Discussion
Source: [H]ardOCP – GeForce Game Ready 384.76 WHQL Drivers
AMD Reveals Ryzen 3 1300 & 1200 Details with Ryzen PRO Launch
AMD introduced their Ryzen PRO processors for business and commercial desktop PCs this morning. Included were specifications on the Ryzen PRO 3, which means we now have a solid idea of what the consumer Ryzen 3 will bring (seeing that every other announced Ryzen PRO chip has identical speeds and feeds as mainstream Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 7 processors). The Ryzen 3 Pro 1200 hovers between 3.1GHz and 3.4GHz, while the faster Ryzen 3 Pro 1300 rocks clocks between 3.5GHz and 3.7GHz: both are true quad-core chips without multi-threading.
With the release of the Ryzen PRO 3 specifications, AMD has now confirmed what we’ve been suspecting for the Ryzen 3 specifications for a while now. Ryzen 3 is a quad-core CPU without SMT, so we’re looking at just 4 threads instead of 8, albeit 4 threads without any of the resource contention SMT can sometimes cause. On which matter, it’s worth pointing out that AMD has already previously commented that Ryzen 3 will use the same die as Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 7, so we’re looking at 4 cores distributed over 2 CCXs, like the Ryzen 5 1400 & 1500X. Similarly, AMD’s reveal indicates that Ryzen 3 will have the same cache structure as the lowest-end Ryzen 5, the 1400.
Discussion
Source: [H]ardOCP – AMD Reveals Ryzen 3 1300 & 1200 Details with Ryzen PRO Launch
Today's Best Deals: Early Prime Day, Logitech Gold Box, High Sierra Bags, and More
Logitech computing gear, High Sierra bags and luggage, and early access Prime Day deals lead off Thursday’s best deals from around the web.
Source: LifeHacker – Today’s Best Deals: Early Prime Day, Logitech Gold Box, High Sierra Bags, and More
The iPhone Turns 10
“Every once in awhile a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything,” said co-founder and former Apple CEO Steve Jobs, as he kickstarted the iPhone keynote. Ten years ago, thousands of people around the world listened to him in a mock turtleneck talk about a phone. They liked it so much that they decided to wait outside Apple stores for hours on end to buy one. Little did anyone know the phone — called the iPhone — would go on to revolutionize, in the truest sense of the word, the smartphone industry as we know it. From an Economist article: No product in recent history has changed people’s lives more. Without the iPhone, ride-hailing, photo-sharing, instant messaging and other essentials of modern life would be less widespread. Shorn of cumulative sales of 1.2bn devices and revenues of $1trn, Apple would not hold the crown of the world’s largest listed company. Thousands of software developers would be poorer, too: the apps they have written for the smartphone make them more than $20bn annually. Here’s how some journalists saw the original iPhone. David Pogue, writing for the New York Times: But even in version 1.0, the iPhone is still the most sophisticated, outlook-changing piece of electronics to come along in years. It does so many things so well, and so pleasurably, that you tend to forgive its foibles. Walt Mossberg, writing for the Wall Street Journal: Expectations for the iPhone have been so high that it can’t possibly meet them all. It isn’t for the average person who just wants a cheap, small phone for calling and texting. But, despite its network limitations, the iPhone is a whole new experience and a pleasure to use. John Gruber’s first impressions of the iPhone: The iPhone is 95 percent amazing, 5 percent maddening. I’m just blown away by how nice it is — very thoughtful UI design and outstanding engineering. It is very fun. Jason Snell, writing for Macworld: To put it more simply: The iPhone is the real deal. It’s a product that has already changed the way people look at the devices they carry in their pockets and purses. After only a few days with mine, the prospect of carrying a cellphone with me wherever I go no longer fills me with begrudging acceptance, but actual excitement. Recode has some charts that show how the iPhone has grown over the years. Here’s the primer: 1. The iPhone put the internet in everyone’s pocket. 2. The iPhone transformed photography from a hobby to a part of everyday life. 3. The iPhone App Store changed the way software was created and distributed. 4. iPhone apps changed everything, even how people work. 5. The iPhone made Apple the world’s most valuable company. Apple commentator Horace Dediu writing for Asymco: The iPhone is the best selling product ever, making Apple perhaps the best business ever. Because of the iPhone, Apple has managed to survive to a relatively old age. Not only did it build a device base well over 1 billion it engendered loyalty and satisfaction described only by superlatives. To summarize I can offer two numbers: 1. 1,162,796,000 iPhones sold (to end of March 2017). 2. $742,912,000,000 in revenues. $1 trillion will be reached in less than 18 months. In closing, security researcher Mikko Hypponen tweeted, “iPhone is 10 years old today. After 10 years, not a single serious malware case. It’s not just luck; we need to congratulate Apple on this.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – The iPhone Turns 10
Anchor lets you record and publish podcasts from your phone
If you haven’t heard of Anchor yet, it’s an app that lets you record little bits of audio and broadcast them to your followers with minimal fuss. In a lot of ways, it’s like Instagram or Snapchat stories, but focused purely on audio recordings — you…
Source: Engadget – Anchor lets you record and publish podcasts from your phone
System76 Announces Pop!_OS Linux Distribution, To Be Shipped On Their Future PCs
Longtime Linux laptop/desktop vendor System76 known for their Ubuntu-loaded systems has gone public today with their new operating system called “Pop!_OS”, which in just a matter of months will begin appearing on their new products…
Source: Phoronix – System76 Announces Pop!_OS Linux Distribution, To Be Shipped On Their Future PCs
What the Hell is Happening Here?
Monroe MacKinney thought he had reeled in just another largemouth bass from his parents’ eight-acre pond. But after peering into the fish’s mouth, the Missouri fisherman realized he’d actually hauled up a Russian nesting doll of nightmares.
Source: Gizmodo – What the Hell is Happening Here?
AI will predict key moments at the Tour de France
Machine learning is popping up in a range of different sports, helping to predict everything from athletes’ injuries to peak performance levels. Enter the Tour de France — the world’s biggest cycling event, consisting of 198 riders across 22 teams w…
Source: Engadget – AI will predict key moments at the Tour de France
Charge your electric car in style at the K:PORT
And recharge yourself in the café next door.
Source: TreeHugger – Charge your electric car in style at the K:PORT
GRUB Now Supports EXT4 File-Systems With Encryption
The GRUB bootloader now supports file-systems making use of EXT4 file-system encryption but where the boot files are left unencrypted…
Source: Phoronix – GRUB Now Supports EXT4 File-Systems With Encryption
The SNES Classic is probably the last retro console Nintendo will make
When Nintendo announced the SNES Classic earlier this week, nerd hearts everywhere were aflutter at another opportunity to relive old gaming glory. There was a hint of caution, though, as fans remembered how demand for Nintendo’s first retro console…
Source: Engadget – The SNES Classic is probably the last retro console Nintendo will make
Amazon Prime Day is on July 11, with early access on July 10
Amazon Prime Day 2017 is almost upon us: starting from 6pm on July 10 (Monday), and running until the end of July 11, you’ll be able to stock up on toilet rolls and other odd things that Amazon has failed to shift over the last year, plus a few nice products that you’ll actually be interested in. Prime Day 2017 is officially on July 11, but Amazon is adding six more hours of shopping this year, presumably to cash in on a second lucrative evening shopping spree.
The first teaser from the second season of The Grand Tour will also be unveiled on Prime Day. Amazon tells us that Jeremy, Richard, and James have visited Mozambique, Switzerland, and, er, the UK.
Read 4 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Source: Ars Technica – Amazon Prime Day is on July 11, with early access on July 10
Survey: Pain patients overwhelmingly prefer medical marijuana over opioids
Enlarge (credit: Getty | ShaunGoo)
When patients have a choice between opioids and medical marijuana for a painful condition, an overwhelming majority say they prefer marijuana, that it works just as well, and has fewer side effects, a new survey finds.
Though the survey, involving 2,897 medical cannabis patients, didn’t track actual drug use or efficacy, the findings fits with previous data. Decades of research suggest marijuana is effective for pain treatment. And recent studies have found that in states with medical marijuana availability, there are fewer opioid overdose deaths and doctors fill fewer opioid prescriptions.
The authors of the new survey, led by Amanda Reiman of the University of California, Berkeley, say the data furthers the need to examine marijuana as a “viable substitute for pain treatment,” particularly in light of the devastating opioid epidemic now gripping the country. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that opioids killed more than 33,0000 Americans in 2015, and estimates that 91 people in the US die each day from the highly addictive drugs.
Read 9 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Source: Ars Technica – Survey: Pain patients overwhelmingly prefer medical marijuana over opioids
AMD Inadvertently Reveals Ryzen 3 1300 & 1200 Details
If you were paying close attention to this morning’s announcement of AMD’s new Ryzen Pro SKUs, then you likely noticed something interesting: the non-X PRO chips all have the same performance specifications as their standard consumer counterparts. Specifically, both of the non-X PRO SKUs with existing Ryzen 5 & 7 counterparts have the same core counts, clockspeeds, and TDPs. And for the final 2 Ryzen PRO 3 SKUS? Well, AMD has inadvertently shown their hand here when it comes to forthcoming Ryzen 3.
With the release of the Ryzen PRO 3 specifications, AMD has now confirmed what we’ve been suspecting for the Ryzen 3 specifications for a while now. Ryzen 3 is a quad-core CPU without SMT, so we’re looking at just 4 threads instead of 8, albeit 4 threads without any of the resource contention SMT can sometimes cause. On which matter, it’s worth pointing out that AMD has already previously commented that Ryzen 3 will use the same die as Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 7, so we’re looking at 4 cores distributed over 2 CCXs, like the Ryzen 5 1400 & 1500X.
| AMD Ryzen 5 & 3 SKUs | |||||||
| Cores/ Threads |
Base/ Turbo |
XFR | L3 | TDP | Cost | Cooler | |
| Ryzen 5 1600X | 6/12 | 3.6/4.0 | +100 | 16 MB | 95 W | $249 | – |
| Ryzen 5 1600 | 6/12 | 3.2/3.6 | +100 | 16 MB | 65 W | $219 | Spire |
| Ryzen 5 1500X | 4/8 | 3.5/3.7 | +200 | 16 MB | 65 W | $189 | Spire |
| Ryzen 5 1400 | 4/8 | 3.2/3.4 | +50 | 8 MB | 65 W | $169 | Stealth |
| Ryzen 3 1300* | 4/4 | 3.5/3.7 | TBD | 8 MB | 65 W | TBD | – |
| Ryzen 3 1200* | 4/4 | 3.1/3.4 | TBD | 8 MB | 65 W | TBD | – |
Similarly, AMD’s reveal indicates that Ryzen 3 will have the same cache structure as the lowest-end Ryzen 5, the 1400. That means just half of the chip’s total 16MB of L3 cache is enabled. However each core still retains its full 512KB of L2 cache. Finally, this inadvertent reveal also confirms that TDPs for the lowest-end members of the Ryzen family will stick with the same 65W TDP as all but the highest-performance Ryzen chips.
Of course, it should be noted here that AMD’s accidental reveal doesn’t mean that the 1300 & 1200 will be the only Ryzen 3 chips we’ll see. Just like the Ryzen 5 and 7 only had a couple of PRO counterparts, it’s likely that the story will be the same for the Ryzen 3 series. In particular, Ian suspects a Ryzen 3 1300X will show up, but we shall see in due time…
Source: AnandTech – AMD Inadvertently Reveals Ryzen 3 1300 & 1200 Details
AMD Announces Ryzen PRO, Mobile Parts In 2018
First there was Radeon Pro and now there is Ryzen PRO for CPUs catering towards business customers. Ryzen PRO desktop CPUs will be out around the end of summer while mobile PRO parts will come in H1’2018…
Source: Phoronix – AMD Announces Ryzen PRO, Mobile Parts In 2018
Toshiba Announces 4-Bit QLC NAND Flash Memory
Toshiba has developed the world’s first QLC BICS flash 3D memory with 4-bit-per-cell technology. QLC happens to trail other memory hierarchies (SLC, MLC, TLC) in terms of latency, performance, and endurance, but some believe that this development may result in larger SSDs at cheaper prices. Others say these will be relegated to data centers, which would benefit from the lower power consumption and smaller footprint.
Toshiba’s new QLC BiCS FLASH device features a 64-layer stacked cell structure and achieves the world’s largest die capacity (768Gb/96GB). QLC flash memory also enables a 1.5-terabyte (TB) device with a 16-die stacked architecture in a single package – featuring the industry’s largest capacity4. This is a fifty percent increase in capacity per package when compared to Toshiba’s earlier announcement of a 1TB device with a 16-die stacked architecture in a single package – which also offered the largest capacity in the industry at the time.
Discussion
Source: [H]ardOCP – Toshiba Announces 4-Bit QLC NAND Flash Memory
Cox Expands 1TB Data Cap to More Territories
Starting next month, Cox customers in Arizona, Las Vegas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma will be subject to a 1TB data cap: they’ll have to pay $10 for every 50GB of data they consume over this limit. The data cap is already effective in Cleveland, Ohio; Omaha, Nebraska; Sun Valley, Idaho; Florida, and Georgia.
…the company says that a terabyte of data — which it claims allows you to watch 140 2-hour HD movies — is sufficient for the overwhelming majority of customers (98 percent to be precise). Customers signed up to its faster Gigablast plan (available in select regions) will be capped at 2TB of data. Cox customers can manually track their usage using the data usage meter online or via the Cox Connect mobile app. US internet providers are increasingly adopting 1TB caps.
Discussion
Source: [H]ardOCP – Cox Expands 1TB Data Cap to More Territories
Ryzen Pro: AMD takes on Intel on the corporate desktop, with one key omission
AMD
AMD today launched Ryzen Pro (styled “PRO” in AMD’s branding, but we’re not going to do that here), a series of processors designed for the corporate desktop. Close counterparts to the existing line of consumer-oriented Ryzen chips, the Pro parts are aimed at Intel’s vPro-compatible processors, which enable a number of additional administrative, security, and management capabilities.
Most of the regular Ryzen models have corresponding Pro versions, albeit topping out at a 1700X rather than the 1800 and 1800X of the consumer parts. This means that at the high end, there’s a couple of eight core, 16 thread parts, which is twice the number of cores and threads of comparable Intel chips.
Read 5 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Source: Ars Technica – Ryzen Pro: AMD takes on Intel on the corporate desktop, with one key omission
How to Survive Being Stuck in Traffic with Small Kids This Holiday Weekend
It’s a long holiday weekend, you guys! That means beach trips, mountain getaways, lakeside barbecues, and traffic headaches from Seattle to Orlando. Now, in my family we generally we decide to pack up right after Friday breakfast, but because we have two small kids and are fairly disorganized, we inevitably end up…
Source: LifeHacker – How to Survive Being Stuck in Traffic with Small Kids This Holiday Weekend