Hasta La Gadget!

Texas Instrument’s TI-84 makes quick work of graphs and equations like nobody’s business, but it’s done so for years while clinging to an outdated black and white screen. Now, however, it looks like that’ll change for at least one flavor of the souped-up digital abacus. Cemetech forum user 0rac343 posted a photo of a TI-84+ C Silver Edition, claiming that it was one of 24 provided by TI for in-classroom testing and that it’s slated to launch next spring. Tech Powered Math reports that a contact who’s worked with Texas Instruments has confirmed that the calculator is the real McCoy. In fact, the firm’s website has a page where visitors can sign up for updates about the number cruncher in question. With the help of the refreshed TI-84, we might finally be able to tell if Blinky, Inky, Pinky or Clyde is the ghost chasing us down in the hardware’s Pac-Man clone.

Filed under: Misc, Alt

TI-84 calculator with color screen surfaces, geeks giddy with anticipation originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 10 Nov 2012 08:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The original Netduino Plus was a welcome alternative for Arduino developers that had its limits — even networking was almost a step too far. Secret Labs doesn’t want any of us to bump our heads on the ceiling with its just-launched Netduino Plus 2. The networkable, .NET-friendly developer board runs a four times faster 168MHz processor with double the RAM (over 100KB) and six times as much code space (384KB) as its two-year-old ancestor. Having so much headroom lets the team build common OneWire and Time Server code into the firmware; Secret Labs reckons that there’s enough space that the Plus 2 can easily grow over time. The ports are just as ready for the future with four serial ports, software control of any add-on shields (including Rev C Arduino shields) and a new header that lets programmers debug both managed and truly native code at once. If the upgrade is sufficiently tempting, project builders just need to spend $60 today to enjoy some newfound freedom.

Continue reading Netduino Plus 2 offers four times the speed, full round of futureproofing (video)

Filed under: Misc

Netduino Plus 2 offers four times the speed, full round of futureproofing (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Nov 2012 20:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Cray has just fired a nuclear salvo in the supercomputer wars with the launch of its XC30, a 100 petaflop-capable brute that can scale up to one million cores. Developed in conjunction with DARPA, the Cascade-codenamed system uses a new type of architecture called Aries interconnect and Intel Xeon E5-2600 processors to easily leapfrog its recent Titan sibling, the previous speed champ. That puts Cray well ahead of rivals like China’s Tianhe-2, and the company will aim to keep that edge by supercharging future versions with Intel Xeon Phi coprocessors and NVIDIA Tesla GPUs. High-end research centers have placed $100 million worth of orders so far (though oddly, DARPA isn’t one of them yet), and units are already shipping in limited numbers — likely by the eighteen-wheeler-full, from the looks of it.

Continue reading Cray unleashes 100 petaflop XC30 supercomputer with up to a million Intel Xeon cores

Filed under: Misc, Science

Cray unleashes 100 petaflop XC30 supercomputer with up to a million Intel Xeon cores originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Nov 2012 10:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Practically synonymous with Rock ‘n’ Roll, premium audio equipment maker Marshall is celebrating 50 years of sound with the release of its Major 50 FX headphones. Priced at $170, these celebratory cans take their cues from the limited run Hanwell anniversary edition amp, featuring gold accents and a commemorative headband with the inscription “London, England, 1962” to mark when it all began, along with inner ear caps engraved with the words “50 years.” Vintage in appearance, these golden-year shrugs also include an Apple-certified microphone and volume control, so you can pretend that you’re slappin’ da bass while taking a phone call.

Filed under: Misc, Peripherals

Marshall Major 50 FX 50th anniversary headphones now available for $170 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 07 Nov 2012 19:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Voice recognition usually applies to communication only in the most utilitarian sense, whether it’s to translate on the spot or to keep those hands on the wheel while sending a text message. Samsung has just been granted a US patent that would convey how we’re truly feeling through visuals instead of leaving it to interpretation of audio or text. An avatar could change its eyes, mouth and other facial traits to reflect the emotional state of a speaker depending on the pronunciation: sound exasperated or brimming with joy and the consonants or vowels could lead to a furrowed brow or a smile. The technique could be weighted against direct lip syncing to keep the facial cues active in mid-speech. While the patent won’t be quite as expressive as direct facial mapping if Samsung puts it to use, it could be a boon for more realistic facial behavior in video games and computer-animated movies, as well as signal whether there was any emotional subtext in that speech-to-text conversion — try not to give away any sarcasm.

Filed under: Misc, Gaming, Software, Samsung

Samsung patent ties emotional states to virtual faces through voice, shows when we’re cracking up originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Nov 2012 11:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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