About the union of birds and processors, the Russian SSD, a wallet for non-existent money and a smartphone for the foreman Pavel Stepanovich.
Gaming Union Qualcomm and Hatch (daughter of Rovio)
On the 20th of February, Hatch Entertainment, a subsidiary of Rovio ('Angry Birds' and others), announced its partnership with Qualcomm. The first thought that comes to mind is that the company will produce games adapted to the chipsets of the world's leading chip maker. But everything is much more interesting. The collaboration boils down to the creation of specialized gaming servers based on the Qualcomm Centriq 2400 platform. This is a 10nm 48-core ARM chip, perfect for working with server operating systems, for example, with Windows Server 2016:
And the stuffing of an ARM server from Qualcomm looks like this:
Why do Angry Birds want Qualcomm ARM servers? The collaboration involves the creation of a network of servers and a shell application for Android – a smartphone. In fact, it will be just a shortcut on the desktop, by launching which the user gets access to a large number of cloud games. There will be no additional background processes in the smartphone, only the standard load, as with normal Internet surfing. The announcement of the cooperation was very late, because beta testing is already taking place in Finland. On the Hatch website, you can look at the list of games for a long time, but you have to wait. Or you can enter your cell phone number and receive a notification when the service is launched in our country. How will this service differ from similar ones? It's very simple, Qualcomm chips are distinguished by advanced communication technology and, according to their service protocols, can transfer content much faster and in a more compressed form than in the 'Qualcomm-not Qualcomm' bundle. Hatch expects to reduce internet traffic by up to 50% over HD video streaming.
The added good news is the promise to save users from in-game purchases, no more 'pay or watch ads' every 5 minutes, just pure rent or purchase of the game.
Is it time for cloud gaming? What do you think?
Did NOT cut money in GS Group?
Every few years, horror stories surface about how vulnerable military or government computers are, from which foreign intelligence services can freely download confidential information. All of these stories feature 'back doors' that appeared in hardware or software during the development phase. And if the issue with the software is solved by the transition to Linux-like OS with a Russian interface, then with hardware “holes” everything is much worse. Access to the cells of flash memory or the HDD is provided directly by the ROM controller. This small microcircuit, like a tick, dug into the board with its paws-contacts, it is poorly controlled by the user and of course it will not tell all its secrets even to those who like to dig deeper into the binary code. Apparently, this is what GS NANOTECH (a part of the Russian holding GS Group) thought when they launched the production cycle of SSD disks in Russia using 3D-Nand technology.
Pictured here is an SSD image from Shutterstock, November 2013, which GS Group has slightly retouched and is using to showcase its products.
From the scanty information on the manufacturer's website it is impossible to understand how much PR is in this news, and how much real participation in the development of domestic specialists. For example, there is no answer to the question about the controller manufacturer as the prime suspect in a missing information case. I hope the market will put everything in its place, because the Russian SSD in a 2.5 ″ laptop form factor, with read / write speeds of 550/450 GB / s and a capacity of up to 2 TB (depending on the customer) will be on sale by the end of 2018 . First for server systems, and then penetration into the consumer sector is possible. And after falling into skillful hands and removing the case, he will reveal the secret of his birth.
In any case, these are new jobs and the opportunity to call the Russian Federation a country-manufacturer of Hi-Tech equipment. What do you think?
Archos – when you want money
You can treat cryptocurrencies in different ways. A normal person does not understand how one can actually produce nothing, print money himself and not be held responsible for it. For the second year now, gamers have been spitting poison towards miners, because of which prices for PC components have skyrocketed and, in order to buy a new video card, you have to pay an amount commensurate with the cost of the entire PC a year earlier. However, these reasonable arguments cannot stop those who want to enrich themselves according to the system “robots work, not humans.” The idea is tempting – to press a button and wait for the equipment to draw you electronic 'money'. This scheme had only one weak link – when a certain amount of cryptocurrency had already been produced and transferred to a USB flash drive, it had to be exchanged for real money. This can be done remotely on the stock exchange (it is dangerous, there are cases of theft), or you can put on your shoes and take the coveted flash drive to an illegal exchange office in the gateway, reminiscent of both the entrance to the drug den and the gun store from the Fallout New Vegas game:
A little later, a 'legal' exchange point was opened in Moscow, but the weak link in the whole process, namely the transfer of electronic money on a USB flash drive, did not go anywhere. Any informed robber could easily have made a couple of thousand dollars rich by hitting an inconspicuous miner on the head with a heavy object and taking possession of his flash drive. To solve this problem, as well as the problem of long-term storage of cryptocurrency at home, some companies have introduced a new product to the market – an electronic wallet, specially designed to store this pseudo-money. For example, Ledger offers a nice flash drive called the Nano S for $ 79:
And Trezor offers their Bitcoin Wallet for $ 89:
Considering that capitalism breeds irresponsible egoists, like a bunny rabbit in the spring, no one was particularly surprised when a once well-known company Archos decided to take their piece of this pie. And, as always, it used dumping prices as the main attractive factor. The company says that all development, assembly and software are made in France, which excludes the possibility of cryptocurrency theft with the help of software holes prepared by a careless manufacturer in advance. For only $ 50, you can become the owner of a round piece Archos Safe-T mini, which will provide a parasitic element (this is the author's personal opinion) with ghostly security:
All of these wallets offer advanced encryption and some integration into the electronic 'money' transaction process.
These are the realities of life, comrades, capitalism is ready to sell revolvers for robbing banks and accessories for using drugs (but not the drugs themselves), slave chains and wallets for cryptocurrencies. What do you think about this?
Global manufacturer of 'everything and everyone' with rim Caterpillar announces new heavy-duty Android – brick
Mobile trends seem to have been defined for a long time, including good looks, a 2 / 4K screen and 3-4 cameras with fast HDR. But there is someone, someone in a bright yellow rubber raincoat, canvas trousers with aids, a white helmet and shoes with a cast-iron sole, who disagree with them. The new Cat® S61 appears to have been designed with the slogan 'survive the construction site at any cost':
Compared to its predecessor in the S60, a dedicated thermal imaging camera (FLIR®), a laser rangefinder and an indoor air quality sensor have been added. The thermal imager has a temperature range of 400 ° C, HD resolution on the image output (in the early models it was VGA) and all the necessary software for operation. The standard scenario for using a smartphone involves checking heat leaks from doors and window frames, heating pipes, as well as solving other problems during the construction and maintenance of finished objects. And not at all the search for sleeping workers during working hours in a dark room, as some would think. On the other hand, why not? A negligent worker is unlikely to smear himself in the mud in order to hide from the all-seeing eye of the foreman, as Arnold Schwarzenegger did in the movie Predator, hiding from an aggressive humanoid:
In addition to a simple view of the world through a thermal imager, the updated MyFlir® app allows for live online broadcasting, as well as a system of prompts and access to a specialized forum, where they will always give advice on how to use the device more efficiently. Another innovative sensor is the Sensirion Air Pollution Sensor. It is tuned to the most common situations such as detecting and evaluating the density of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), varnish and cleaning agent particles, carpet and old concrete floor dust, fuel vapors and other liquids. In case of recording an unfavorable environment, the smartphone gives a signal, and its owner always has time to open the window or leave the room. In addition, the sensor can be used to determine the temperature and humidity of the air.
The laser rangefinder is designed for maximum accuracy when measuring distances up to 10 meters and is equipped with software for calculating areas and working in different computing environments.
The appearance of the smartphone inspires confidence, in each of its lines one can feel brutal self-confidence. It can be seen that the brick is large, but at the same time it is quite good-looking (personal opinion) and very durable. Certification passed includes IP68 and MIL Spec 810G. This means that the phone can be kept in water at a depth of 3 meters for an hour and dropped repeatedly on a concrete floor from a height of 1.8 meters.
The Cat® S61 will be available in the EU and UK in the second quarter of 2018 for € 899 and £ 799, in retail stores and at www.catphones.com.
Do you think, friends, does it make sense for an ordinary person to purchase such a phone? Where can a really high-quality thermal imager be used in everyday life?