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Thursday, 24 December 2015
Thursday, 24 December 2015
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It’s been over 18 months since we first visited the topic of DirectX 12 and what features and benefits it would bring to modern gaming. Much has happened since. Windows 10‘s launch and the debut of Ashes of the Singularity brought the first hints of DirectX 12 gaming performance, as did Fable Legends, which debuted some weeks later. We’ve also covered the work being done on Vulkan, the open-source, Linux-friendly DX12 competitor (now not expected to debut until 2016), how that software might impact the future of Valve and the company’s push for its own SteamOS, and the debut of DirectX 12 on the Xbox One as well.
From debates over the importance of asynchronous computing to confusion over exactly which feature sets are and aren’t supporting on current hardware, DirectX 12 was one of the most important stories we covered in 2015. This story will start you off on a discussion of its capabilities and advantages compared with DirectX 11, and if you want more nuance, feel free to consult the links above.
Enter DX12
Microsoft and Nvidia first took the lid of DirectX 12 at GDC 2014. The new API promised to deliver the same low-overhead benefits of AMD’s custom Mantle UI, along with vastly improved performance and superior hardware utilization compared with DirectX 11. Even better, DirectX 12 (and D3D 12) are backwards compatible with virtually every single GPU from the GTX 400 to the present day. At present, only Nvidia’s Kepler and Maxwell cards are DX12 compatible, but the company has promised that Fermi compatibility is coming in a future update.
Microsoft has published a blog post and accompanying API samples that illustrate how much more powerful the software is, while acknowledging some of the flaws in the DirectX 11 API. One of the central problems with DX11 is that it’s virtually impossible to multi-thread the 3D rendering path. Game rendering ends up running almost entirely on a single CPU thread, bogging down the rest of the system. DirectX 11 also makes certain assumptions about the underlying hardware that have proven to map poorly to GPUs from both AMD and Nvidia.
Here’s a threading comparison between DX11 (top) and DX12 (bottom):
See how, in DX11, the entire workload is hanging on a single thread with extremely low utilization on the other threads? That’s a problem — with the kernel-mode driver running on the same thread as the game and the D3D layer, there’s just not much for the other threads to do. The second graph shows how, by splitting the workload more evenly, the game can hit much lower latencies. Better latencies translates directly into higher frame rates.
3DMark – DX11
3DMark – DX12
This pair of screenshots from 3DMark 2012 further illustrate the difference. Total CPU time is dramatically reduced in DX12 by efficiently reallocating data across all cores.
OS and GPU support
DirectX 12 is currently supported on all Nvidia GPUs based on Kepler and Maxwell. That’s the vast majority of the 6xx series and all of the 7xx and 8xx graphics cards. Fermi support is coming soon, which will extend support all the way back to the 400 and 500-series as well.
AMD supports DirectX 12 on all GCN-class hardware dating back to the launch of that family in 2012. All AMD GPUs from the HD 77xx family (or above), the HD 85xx family (or above), and the Radeon R5 family (or above) all support DirectX 12. This includes the various iterations of GCN, from 1.0 – 1.2.
One thing to understand is that while DirectX 12 is a common API, that API has different optional features, defined as feature levels. AMD’s first-generation GCN products support DirectX 12 at the 11_1 feature level , as do Nvidia’s Fermi and Kepler cards. Cards based on Hawaii, Tonga, and Fiji support the 12_0 feature level. More information on this, and a comprehensive comparison between AMD, Nvidia, and Intel.
Windows 10 is the only operating system that supports DirectX 12, which means if you want in on these features you’ll need to take advantage of Microsoft’s free upgrade (or buy a new PC with W10 preloaded).
Wednesday, 23 December 2015
Wednesday, 23 December 2015
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The future of spaceflight involves building, refueling and repairing spacecraft in a depot far from Earth, all without the aid of human hands, officials with the United States military say.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is developing a highly capable robotic arm that could make such a space "transportation hub" possible in the relatively near future, said former NASA astronaut Pam Melroy, deputy director of DARPA's Tactical Technology Office.
"We think that these capabilities — space capabilities — are not just about a single monolithic satellite with a few capabilities, but instead about a vibrant, robust ecosystem that involves transportation, repair, refueling, upgrading, [and] in situ construction," Melroy said Thursday (Sept. 10) at DARPA's "Wait, What? A Future Technology Forum" in St. Louis. [Incredible Technology: Space Travel and Exploration]
"Look at the great seafaring port cities in the world for inspiration, and imagine a port of call at 36,000 kilometers," she added.
Thirty-six thousand kilometers (22,370 miles) is the distance from Earth at which satellites fly in geosynchronous orbit, or "GEO" for short. Spacecraft at GEO — which include most operational telecommunications satellites — complete one lap in the same amount of time it takes Earth to rotate once on its axis, and therefore appear to "hover" over one spot on the planet all the time.
It makes much more sense to build a transformative transportation hub at GEO than at low-Earth orbit (LEO), which lies at an altitude between 186 miles and 373 miles (300 to 600 km), Melroy said.
For one thing, orbital velocity at GEO is lower, reducing the risk of serious collisions with space junk. GEO is also a much more stable orbit, because satellites located there are not nearly as affected by atmospheric drag. Whereas spacecraft at LEO (such as the International Space Station) will fall back to Earth within 25 years or so unless orbit-boosting maneuvers are performed, objects at GEO will stay put on their own for up to 1 million years, Melroy said.
"We think this sounds like a really interesting place to put infrastructure, because it's such a stable place," she said.
Radiation levels so far from Earth — GEO lies about 10 percent of the way from Earth to the moon — are too high for astronauts to tolerate safely over long durations, so this future facility would be run by robots, Melroy added.
The key to making all of this happen therefore lies in advanced space robotics — "robotic arms very much like the one that was used to build the International Space Station, but with greater levels of automation and safety," Melroy said.
"DARPA is building just such a robotic arm," she added. "We think this is a critical capability to building a transportation hub that allows transporation to and from the Earth's surface, from low-Earth orbit to GEO, and even beyond Earth orbit."
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The space agency recently released a list of robotic technologies already in use on the International Space Station, ranging from complex robotic arms to humanoid helpers.
Perhaps the longest-standing example of robots on the space station is the Canadarm series of robotic arms and hands, located on the outside of the orbiting laboratory. The Canadarm and Canadarm2 date to the second shuttle mission in 1981, and are used for applications such as assisting astronauts during spacewalks, hoisting equipment or, in Canadarm2's case, helping cargo-carrying spacecraft dock with the station. Dextre, a robotic hand, has done robotic refueling demonstrations, among other tasks. [Photos of R5, NASA's Newest Space Robot]
On Earth, some of the Canadarm technologies have had medical applications. For instance, a device called neuroArm can make brain surgery more precise, and the Image-Guided Autonomous Robot targets tumors.
Astronauts are also working alongside Robonaut 2, a dexterous humanoid that is designed to flip switches and do other simple, monotonous tasks so that astronauts can focus on more difficult things. In the future, Robonaut could take on tasks that pose a danger to astronauts, or evenadminister medical care to injured crewmembers (while being directed by a human back on Earth). Eventually, NASA wants to adapt a version of the robot to do spacewalks, and a next-generation version of the Robonaut, called R5 or Valkyrie, could even travel to Mars ahead of humans.
In the meantime, the Robonaut can dance a pretty good waltz.
Yet another new robot technology makes it possible for someone in space to control a rover that is on Earth. Both the European Space Agency and NASA asked astronauts to test out rover driving from space to assess the possibility of one day having astronauts in a spaceship drive rovers on the surface of the moon or Mars. This could save the expense and hassle of a human landing mission, leaving the people up above to do the driving while the robot below takes the brunt of the risk.
They may not be as talkative as C-3P0, but these space robots are a valuable part of life in orbit.
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J.R. Bedárd was inspired to build his own version of the roly-poly robot after the real BB-8 droid (the one used in the film "Star Wars: The Force Awakens") took to the stage at Star Wars Celebration, a fan convention held in April in Anaheim, California. Fans like Bedárd were amazed that the bot — which has a half dome for a head and a spherical body that rolls over the ground — actually appeared in the film and that the robot was not the product of computer-generated imagery (CGI).
Once he saw that such an unusual-looking bot could be built, Bedárd said he couldn't resist making a (slightly modified) one for himself. ['Star Wars' Tech: 8 Sci-Fi Inventions and Their Real-Life Counterparts]
"I've completed a couple of 3D-printing projects before and wanted to create my own [remote-controlled] version of this droid, on wheels," Bedárd told Live Science in an email. "Being on wheels meant that I could add more 3D details and elements on the shell of the robot, as it doesn't need to be flat for rolling."
The BB-8 bot that inspired Bedárd is reminiscent of R2-D2, the oh-so-cute "astromech droid" with the beeping binary vocabulary that accompanies protagonists like Padmé Amidala, Luke Skywalker, Obie-Wan Kenobi and Princess Leia throughout the "Star Wars" universe. (Don't worry: R2 also appears in the new film.) But unlike R2-D2, this new droid doesn't roll around on wheels in the film; it has a ball-shaped body that spins around, and up top it has a half sphere for a head. Attached to the body by magnets, the head wobbles adorably as the bot rolls over the ground. (See a GIF of the bot in action.)
Recreating the round bot took a "3D printer and lots of patience," according to Bedárd, who said he spent about 50 hours building his BB-8 droid. The replica Bedárd created is only half the size of the real BB-8, but he used 656 feet (200 meters) of white plastic filament to 3D-printthe eight parts that make up this smaller version.
After printing BB-8's body and head, Bedárd brought the bot to life using self-balancing wheels and an Arduino microcontroller (a component that allows the bot to be controlled remotely). At some point, Bedárd said he'd like to make a BB-8 droid that rolls without wheels and has a magnetic, wobbly head like the film version of the robot. But for now, he has settled for adding other cool features to his creation — such as a slew of light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, that can be programmed to project different colors and visual effects.
To finish the bot, Bedárd gave it a fancy paint job using an assortment of orange and metallic nail polishes. That might sound like an odd design choice, but the engineer said the fingernail paint is "cheap and renders that thick, reflective look that acrylic [paints] can't." He also used an unconventional (but seasonally appropriate) material to build the droid's "eye" — the black, bulbous component on its head that lets the bot "see" the world. The mini BB-8's eye is made from half of a Christmas tree ornament, Bedárd said.
Right now, the industrious software engineer is "cleaning up" the BB-8 computer model so that he can share it online. Soon, he said, other "Star Wars" fans will be able to 3D-print the adorable droid at home.
For the past 60 years, NORAD hastracked Santa's movements around the globe from the organization's headquarters at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Most days, the folks at NORAD use the organization's advanced radar systems and satellite imagery to watch for potential ballistic missile threats. But every year around Christmas, NORAD personnel start scanning the skies for Santa's sleigh, as well.Santa Claus is coming to town in five days, 12 hours and 3 minutes. And this year, you can once again keep tabs on old Saint Nick's every move with help from the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).
In addition to its usual weapons-tracking systems, NORAD enlists some special tools to monitor every move made by the big guy in red. High-speed digital cameras, or Santa Cams, capture still images and videos of Santaas he loads up his sleigh at the North Pole and sets off on his nightlong journey around the world. These action shots of Saint Nick at work can be viewed on NORAD's Santa Tracker website right after they're taken.
But you'll have to wait until Christmas Eve to get a close-up view of Santa. Log onto the Santa Tracker site anytime after 12:01 a.m. MST (2:01 a.m. EST/11:01 p.m. PST) on Thursday, Dec. 24, to catch a glimpse of Santa packing his sleigh. Once he takes to the skies, you can keep tabs on him by checking the Santa Tracker website, or you can email NORAD (noradtrackssanta@outlook.com)to see where in the world Santa is at the moment. You can also follow @NoradSanta on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube or Google+ for regular updates as to Saint Nick's whereabouts.
If you want to honor NORAD's Santa-tracking roots, then give the organization a ring at 1-877-Hi-NORAD. Kids (and kids at heart) have been calling that number to find out where in the world Santa is on Christmas Eve since 1955. The tradition started when a local business in Colorado Springs advertised a Santa hotline that children could call on Christmas Eve. But the company listed the wrong number on its advertisement, and when kids called the number, Santa didn't answer. Instead, Col. Harry Shoup, then commander in chief of the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD), the predecessor to NORAD, fielded the phone calls.
Clearly a good sport, Shoup went along with the children's lines of questioning, periodically checking NORAD's radar for signs of a giant sleigh led by a red-nosed reindeer. He was the first of many good-spirited servicemen and women to track Santa in action.
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Imagine walking into a store, running on a treadmill for a few minutes and then purchasing a pair of shoes tailored precisely to the contours of your feet. That's the future of sneaker buying, according to Adidas.
The shoe and clothing company recently unveiled its Futurecraft 3D sneaker — a running shoe with a 3D-printed midsole (the part between the inner sole that touches your foot and the outer sole that touches the ground). Adidas said the midsole can be tailored to fit the "cushioning needs" of your feet, whatever those may be.
To get the measurements needed to 3D print a custom shoe part, sneaker lovers will first have to run on a specially equipped treadmill. Embedded with foot-scanning technologies, the treadmill track will relay information to a computer that creates a design for the personalized midsole. The design file can then be sent to a 3D printer and, voilà — you get a custom-made pair of running shoes that matches the "exact contours and pressure points" of your feet, according to Adidas. [The 10 Weirdest Things Created by 3D Printing]
Adidas showed off its new product in a recent YouTube video, which gives an up-close view of selective laser sintering, or SLS, the 3D printing process used to create the shoe. In SLS, a laser fuses together powdered materials — in this case, thermoplastic polyurethane, or TPU — to form a solid object. The fused-together midsole rises like a phoenix from the bed of powder. Then, it's dusted off and enclosed in a sneaker. Adidas worked with the 3D-printing company Materialise to refine the process.
Though the 3D-printed sneakers in Adidas' video are made for runners, the new manufacturing technique can "meet the needs of any athlete," Eric Liedtke, executive board member at Adidas, said in a statement.
And it's a good thing Adidas is looking to expand upon this technology, because one of its toughest competitors is already making 3D-printed shoes for nonrunners: Nike unveiled itsVapor Ultimate football cleat last year, which is made using both 3D printing and another digital manufacturing process — 3D knitting. In 3D knitting, a machine turns a computer file into a seamless article of clothing or, in Nike's case, a seamless shoe that fits the wearer like a sock.
Other shoe brands are also using 3D printing to create custom kicks for everyday wear. United Nude, a British design company, makes some pretty futuristic-looking high heels using 3D printing. And then there's Feetz, the "digital cobbler" that creates custom 3D-printed shoes that look like something out of a sci-fi flick.
The Web-based FAA registry is free (after rebate) for the next 30 days, but it will cost $5 for each registration after that. The U.S. government made registration mandatory for small unmanned aircraft systems(UAS), or drones, beginning in October as a safety measure; incidents of errant fliers compromising air safety had soared in the previous months, Live Science reported.It just got easier to register your recreational drone, as the Federal Aviation Administration's online registry launched today (Dec. 21).
Drones that weigh between 0.55 and 55 lbs. (0.25 to 25 kilograms), including onboard equipment such as cameras, now require a registration number. [Best Drones for You, from our sister site Tom's Guide]
A registration is valid for three years and covers all small UAS used for hobby or recreation.
So, what about that toy drone you just bought your child for Christmas? Most drones under $100 weigh less than the 0.55-lb. limit, the FAA has estimated.
For UAS weighing more than 55 lbs., owners must use the FAA's paper-based registry system. Regardless of weight, drones used commercially, operated by entities other than hobbyists or recreational users, or operated outside the U.S. must be registered with the paper-based system.
Individuals must be at least 13 years old to register any drone.
If you bought and operated your drone before today, you must register it by Feb. 19, 2016, the FAA says. For other drones, you must complete the registration before you take the flier for a spin outside.
Once you've completed the online registration, you'll receive an ID number, which must be written onto all drones that fall under that registration ID. The FAA will then email you a certificate with your name, ID number, date of issue and expiration. The FAA says to keep a printed or electronic version of the registration with you.
"You will be required to have your FAA registration certificate in your possession when operating your unmanned aircraft," FAA officials said in a statement.
The FAA estimates that 1.6 million small unmanned aircraft, for use as model aircraft, will be sold in 2015.
With the soaring sales come safety risks. "Since February 2015, reports of potentially unsafe UAS operations have more than doubled, and many of these reports indicated that the risk to manned aviation or people and property on the ground was immediate," FAA officials wrote in their report on the registration ruling. "For example, the agency has received reports of unmanned aircraft at high altitudes in congested airspace, unmanned aircraft near passenger-carrying aircraft or major airports, and interfering with emergency response operations such as efforts to combat wildfires."
If you're operating drones, the FAA recommends you follow these guidelines to keep you and others safe:
Fly below 400 feet (122 meters) in altitude;
Make sure you can see your UAS;
Never fly your drone near manned aircraft, such as near airports;
Never fly your UAS above stadiums, sporting events or other large crowds;
Never fly near emergency response efforts.
Make sure you can see your UAS;
Never fly your drone near manned aircraft, such as near airports;
Never fly your UAS above stadiums, sporting events or other large crowds;
Never fly near emergency response efforts.
To register your drone online, visit www.faa.gov/uas/registration.
Friday, 4 December 2015
Friday, 4 December 2015
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One of the biggest advancements in the modern times has been the development in the mobile technology especially in the last few years with the invention of smartphones. We have now gigabytes of memory in our mobile phones and can send and check e-mail in it and we don’t feel too surprising about this fact but just till few years ago this were far from possible as very few had email of their own and memory was stored in a big floppy disk that too just of 5 MB in size. The way the technology has changed it has also changed our lives totally and the way we lived.
The mobile technology has now developed in such a way that we can now even integrate other form of technologies which none of us had imagined would be even possible till few years ago. Now you can check the weather in your area, listen to any song that suits your mood, get the route guide to any place you want to go and much much more.
Have you ever imagines how the technology is going to develop in the next few years and how it is going to change our lives? Let have a look at what surprises the future of mobile technology holds for us.
1) Inventing Less Power Consuming Devices
- The mobile builders have always been trying to make more powerful, smaller in size and consume less energy. And not the development of such devices is more like to be made.
- Lots of companies are now focusing on having a transistor built into their products and making it more powerful. The rapid growth of mobile technology is also changing and speeding up the trend.
- The mobile of future will also be having combined multiple radios, Wi-Fi, 3G, WiMax in just a single device.
- The smaller and more powerful chips will lead to smaller and more powerful mobile devices and its applications.
2) Wider band and wireless USB’s
- Soon we will be able to synchronize and access data between devices and desktops wirelessly.
- The short range wireless connections for the cords will also be useful in the better entertainment like watching videos everywhere at home.
- And using these technologies with our mobile devices will be the real benefit.
3) E newspaper and smart displays
- The top mobile vendors and builders are now working on developing foldable and smart displays.
- These will enable the mobile devices to display the data much easily on better screens.
- Using the e-paper for the mobile device you can maintain the image with the device using no power at all.
- The foldable displayable e-paper will allow you to take it out of your pocket anytime and read the latest news in it.
4) Better security for mobile
- We do have a very good security system for our mobile devices now but still there are lots of complains regarding the breach in the security by the hackers.
- The development in the security systems is also very much necessary for the future mobile devices and it will surely be developed soon.
- The better security for the mobile phones will lead to more secure transaction of money, sensitive and private data and much more.
- You will also be able to use your mobile and gain access to secure places like in office or even at an Airport.
5) Better speech recognition
- The flawless speech recognition is another amazing addition to the mobile phones of future with the powerful chips.
- With today’s smartphones though having speech recognition people found that it was better to type the number than to use the speech recognition.
- With more powerful mobile processors people can now use the speech recognition more accurately than before and won’t need to unlock, open the keypad and type the number or message.
- You can even use other complex functions in it like web search, buying things online and much more other activities.
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