Hasta La Gadget!

Apple has stated that OS X Mountain Lion 10.8 will be launched in July, although they were rather vague when it came to a specific date which we presume was subject to change depending on how well the preview went. However the folks at 9to5 Mac are claiming to have heard whispers that Apple Stores in both the US and overseas are planning overnight shifts for Tuesday, the 24^th of July, leading them to speculate that this could lead to a public launch on the 25^th of July. Given that the golden master release of OS X Mountain Lion was released last week, it’s not a stretch of the imagination to think that the 25^th of July could very well be the public release date (although rumors have also suggested at 19^th of July release). The upgrade will cost $19.99 and will be available for purchase via the Mac App Store on launch day itself. So, anyone looking forward to OS X Mountain Lion?

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Apple beefs up security with Security Update for Mountain Lion Developer Preview 4, OS X Mountain Lion rumored for 19th July release,

Acer has come out with another gaming desktop PC namely the Aspire PREDATOR AG3620-H78F / G. Specs-wise, the system sports a 3.40GHz Intel Core i7-3770 processor, an Intel B75 Express Chipset, a GeForce GT 645 1GB graphics card, an 8GB DDR3 RAM, a 1TB hard drive, a multi-card reader, a DVD Super Multi Drive and runs on Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (SP1) OS. The Aspire PREDATOR AG3620-H78F / G retails for around 100,000 Yen (about $1,261). [Acer]

I’ve been putting off writing about the Telikin because, arguably, any PC is suitable the older audience that the Telikin is aimed. I set my Dad up with a Linux machine and then a Mac Mini and he’s been surfing Drudge and listening to Polka like a champ for almost a decade now. Why spend $699 when you can feasibly hook Grandma up with a PC for $400 or so at Best Buy?

Well the Telikin is an entirely different sort of PC. Built as an all-in-one device, the machine includes an 18- or 20-inch screen, large-print keyboard, and a normal wired mouse. It runs an unnamed version of Linux and is completely locked down, dumping you into a kiosk-like experience that you can’t leave. The machine is, in actuality, a MSI MSI Wind Top AE1920 with some special software installed and you essentially pay a $60 premium for Telikin’s software.

I installed the Telikin for my mother who is approximately as computer savvy as our dog and, with a bit of coaxing, she was able to call via Skype and check an email mailbox I made her months before that she had never visited. Because the experience is completely curated, there is really no way to dump into a command prompt and the system supports something called Tech Buddy, which is essentially a remote desktop connection via any other PC.

That said, the Telikin is clearly limited and may upset tech-savvy folks. The buttons do exactly as they say – News gives you the news, Web gives you a browser – but there are a few quirks that may stymie some users. For example, email attachments aren’t automatically displayed, a definite problem for folks trying to send images and video, and there are no social media buttons (although there are shortcuts in the browser). You can log in using your Facebook account to see friends’ photos in the Photos tab, which is quite fun, but a social tab would be nice.

The system also has a basic word processor and calculator as well as a very simple file browser although you really can’t dig very far into the file system. In short, it hides everything from the user in order to ensure Mom doesn’t drag /var into the trash can.

Walt Mossberg found the Telikin to be a flawed experience but – and I’d actually cede to Walt here if pressed – but I feel it is nearly perfect for an elderly parent who needs a set-it-and-forget-it web experience. I didn’t noticed any of the bugs Walt noticed, which suggests that they have updated the machine over the past year. The price is just about right, too – $699 isn’t a lot to pay vs. a $599 Mac Mini without monitor – but again you’re paying a slight premium for stock hardware and a special OS.

Cheaper computers can be had and better experiences exist, but the Telekin seems to be an excellent choice for, say, a retirement center or home of an elderly relative. More computer-savvy folks like my Dad (who still types “Drudge” into Google to search for Drudge Report) are better served by a real computer with a real OS. Folks who are at a complete loss, however, may find this a superior experience.

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The U.S department of Energy has given NVIDIA $12M to conduct research on exascale supercomputing. Exascale computing describes a computer system capable of reaching one exaflop. For comparison, current supercomputing is still using petaflops as a performance unit(1 petaflop = or one quadrillion floating point operations per second). Today, the fastest super-computer clocks at 16 petaflops today and Exascale is 1000 times larger than petascale.

The $12M basically pays NVIDIA for 2 years of research in critical areas that would lead to building an exascale compute architecture that is more power-efficient than anything we have today. Bill Dally, NVIDIA’s Chief Scientist suggests that if one was to build an exascale computer based on Intel’s X86 architecture today, the energy required would reach 2 Gigawatt or “the entire output of the Hoover Dam” he adds.

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By Ubergizmo. Related articles: NVIDIA forums hacked, Scientists create molecule to keep teeth cavityproof,

When Raspberry Pi released their diminutive, ARM-based PC for $35, people were rightfully chomping at the bit to get their hands on something so cheap and small and hackable. But the 700 MHz, single-core ARM 11 processor it wasn’t exactly a powerhouse. Enter Hardkernel’s ODROID-X, which packs a quad-core Samsung Exynos chipset on a 3.5 inch motherboard. More »