Hasta La Gadget!

If you are searching for a new all-in-one PC, then check out the ASUS ET2220. The Windows 8-ready all-in-one PC features a 21.5-inch frameless 10-point capacitive touchscreen display that can be tilted from 16° to 45° to give users an ergonomic viewing position. Powered by the 3rd generation Intel Core i5 processor, the computer also provides up to four USB 3.0 ports, HDMI and VESA mount compatibility. The ASUS ET2220 also adopts the SonicMaster audio technology. No word on pricing so far. [PC World]

Researchers have discovered a piece of amber encasing the fossil of a spider attacking an insect in its web, and it is believed to be the only one of its kind. The 100 million-year-old fossil also includes a male spider, giving scientists a glimpse into the social aspect of arachnids, something that is present in modern times, yet not terribly common. The fossil originates from the Hukawng Valley in Myanmar.

Said professor George Poinar, Jr., zoology professor at Oregon State University:

“This juvenile spider was going to make a meal out of a tiny parasitic wasp, but never quite got to it. This was a male wasp that suddenly found itself trapped in a spider web. This was the wasp’s worst nightmare, and it never ended. The wasp was watching the spider just as it was about to be attacked, when tree resin flowed over and captured both of them.”

It is believed that spiders originate from about 200 million years ago, however, the oldest spider web fossil discovered is aged from around 130 million years ago. If a fossil has ever been discovered featuring a spider attack, it has never been documented. Even if another fossil did turn up showing a spider attack, it’s unlikely it would feature the second spider as well.

The amber was formed from tree resin, which flowed over the spiders, the web, and the unfortunate wasp moments before the attack. Amber is semi-precious and known for preserving very detailed fossils that provide scientists with a picture that may, as the image above does, tell a story. As far as this particular fossil goes, it tells the sad story of a spider who died hungry.

[via Oregon State University]

Ancient fossil showing spider attack is one-of-a-kind is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Many high-end smartphones are equipped with 8MP to 12MP image sensors, and offer either an illuminated sensor or a flash, or a combination of both. For many, the camera on their smartphone is the only camera they own, or is the primary one they use, while the proliferation of photography apps, such as Instagram, make smartphones a one-stop solution for most consumers’ image-taking needs. How do these camera stack up against digital cameras, though? Pretty good, according to a study by DxOMark Mobile.

The biggest downside to smartphone cameras versus regular digital cameras is image noise, which is the result of the incredibly small sensors used in smartphones. The smaller image size causes less light to reach the sensor, resulting in noisy photographs. Depending on the smartphone, the noise may be reduced using filters that result in slightly blurred or otherwise degraded images. The iPhone 5, which was rated by Consumer Reports as having the best camera on a smartphone, has more artifacts than the Galaxy S III, for example, but the Galaxy S III has overall poorer image quality due to using image filters to reduce noise.

Videos, however, are another story. Many high-end smartphones offer 720p HD video recording, while a select few offer 1080p recording, such as the Galaxy Note II. The Galaxy S III scored very high in video quality at 71, outranking many digital cameras, including the Canon Powershot S1000, which ranked in at 66. The S1000 is only one year old. DxOMark noted that high-end smartphones provide “incredible advantage over quite recent DSCs.”

Ultimately, DxOMark’s study showed two things: one, that mobile cameras have come a long way from the 0.1MP Sharp camera phone of years gone by, and two, that consumer level digital cameras are going to have serious competition in the next few years. For the time being, however, most modern smartphones still offer inferior image quality compared to the equivalent modern consumer digital camera. Consumer camcorders, however, have officially been trumped by mobile devices.

[via DxOMark]

Smartphones beat 5-year-old digital consumer cameras in quality is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Last year, AMD announced that it would cut 10% of its workers by the end of 2012′s first quarter. Now, 11 months later, it seems Advanced Micro Devices is about to announce a workforce reduction of up to 30%. This news comes after AMD’s annoucement on Monday that it expected sales to decrease approximately 10% from the last quarter.

An unidentified source “familiar with the company’s plans” told AllThingsD that AMD plans to announce workforce cuts between 20% and 30% next week, which would total about 2,200 to 3,300 jobs. The jobs in danger involve sales and engineering, and the anticipated cuts may result in AMD reducing its overall offerings. The first round of cuts at the beginning of the year reduced AMD’s operating expenses by $118 million, yet a bad economy and poor sales have prevented it from rebounding.

Sources say that the official announcement could come on October 18th, when AMD announces its quarterly data, or it could be on October 25th. According to one of the sources, the cuts may be completed, or close to completion, by the 25th. The exact time frame for the announcement is unknown, but is expected to be in the next two weeks.

According to the sources providing this info, AMD employees have been expecting the cuts to happen for quite awhile now, presumably since the end of last year when the first round of cuts were announced, and then as sales continued to flounder throughout 2012. The Q1 workforce reduction totaled 1,400 jobs. Said one source, “There are a lot of nervous people, and not a lot is getting done right now.”

[via AllThingsD]

AMD expected to announce 30 percent workforce cut next week is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Technologies like NFC, RFID and QR codes are quickly becoming a normal part of everyday life, and now a group from Carnegie Mellon University has a fresh take on close-quarters data it calls acoustic barcodes. It involves physically etching a barcode-like pattern onto almost any surface, so it produces sound when something’s dragged across it — a fingernail, for example. A computer is then fed that sound through a microphone, recognizes the waveform and executes a command based on it. By altering the space between the grooves, it’s possible to create endless unique identifiers that are associated with different actions.

It’s easy to see how smartphones could take advantage of this — not that we recommend dragging your new iPhone over ridged surfaces — but unlike the technologies mentioned earlier, not all potential applications envisage a personal reading device. Dot barcodes around an area, install the sound processing hardware on site, and you’ve got yourself an interactive space primed for breaking freshly manicured nails. We’re pretty impressed by the simplicity of the concept, and the team does a good job of presenting scenarios for implementing it, which you can see in the video below. And, if you’d like to learn a little more about the idea or delve into the full academic paper, the source links await you.

[Thanks, Julia]

Continue reading Acoustic barcodes store data in sound, go on just about anything (video)

Filed under: Cellphones, Misc, Software, Alt

Acoustic barcodes store data in sound, go on just about anything (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 13 Oct 2012 00:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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