ARM's eight-core Mali GPUs

ARM LAUNCHES SECOND GENERATION OF MALI-T600 GRAPHICS PROCESSORS DRIVING IMPROVED USER EXPERIENCE FOR TABLETS, SMARTPHONES AND SMART-TVs

New technology extends ARM leadership in GPU compute and graphics processing

LOS ANGELES, USA, SIGGRAPH 2012 – 6 AUGUST 2012 - ARM today announced the second generation of the ARM® Mali™-T600 Series graphics processing units (GPUs), providing a dramatically improved user experience for tablets, smartphones and smart-TVs. Each of the products features a 50% performance increase* and are the first to include Adaptive Scalable Texture Compression (ASTC), a texture compression technique that originated from ARM. ASTC significantly optimizes GPU performance and increases battery life in devices, enabling an always-on, always-connected experience, and has now been adopted by the Khronos™ Group, an important industry consortium that focuses on open standards.

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Ubuntu Linux and Windows 8: Head-to-Head at Last

"There must be 50 reasons to prefer GNU/Linux over '8' -- all of them sufficient for one or more groups of users," asserted blogger Robert Pogson. "Where GNU/Linux appears on retail shelves, a significant number of consumers do choose it -- we saw that all over the world when ASUS brought out its netbook with Linpus GNU/Linux, and we see it in Brazil today, where GNU/Linux outsells M$'s OS at Wal-Mart."

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2030: A Manned Mars Odyssey

"The public is no longer interested in robotic missions -- they simply are not compelling," said Randa Milliron, CEO of Interorbital Systems. "Without human presence, the endless line of robots to Mars on billion-dollar missions is simply a waste of mankind's time and resources. The course of action is obvious: 

Buoyed by the recent success of its Mars rover Curiosity, NASA on Tuesday announced plans for a multiyear Mars program that includes launching a new robotic science rover in 2020. Even more significantly, it's also eyeing the possibility of a manned expedition just a decade later.

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YouTube Wants to Be Your Must-See TV

YouTube wants viewers to tune in and check out their favorite channels whenever they're in the mood for some video entertainment -- basically to see what's on YouTube instead of what's on TV. "YouTube didn't become the success it did by copying another media," objected journalism prof Ben Bogardus. "Copying an existing service seems like a step back innovation-wise, rather than a step forward."

Google has restyled its YouTube page to make it easier for viewers to keep up with channel subscriptions. The redesign builds on last year's introduction of a Guide on the home page. Google is now displaying the YouTube Guide across all devices.

The changes underscore the benefits of subscribing to the various channels. After viewers sign up, the Guide lets them know when there are new videos waiting, suggests other content they might enjoy, and points out videos friends are sharing.

The layout is simpler and more streamlined. The video appears at the top of the page, and the subscribe button, social actions and video information are directly underneath the player. Playlists appear to the right of the video.

The changes are designed to encourage consumers to treat YouTube as a de facto television experience, complete with the ability to channel surf. All of the tweaks serve to make the site stickier.

For more -->  technewsworld.com

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