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AMD ships its extra-efficient 7th-generation processors in PCs
While Intel is busy revamping its laptop processors, AMD is focused on the desktop side of personal computing. The chip designer has started shipping its 7th-generation A-series processors in desktop PCs, starting with machines from HP and Lenovo. The CPUs are based around as many as four Excavator cores, rather than the coveted Zen cores you've heard about lately, but that should still get you a lot of performance per watt. If you believe AMD, its 35- and 65-watt processors deliver the kind of speed that previously took over 90 watts -- the A12-9800 is about as fast in a general computing benchmark (PCMark) as Intel's Core i5-6500, and roughly twice as fast in graphics (3DMark) if you're relying on integrated video.
AMD's next laptop processor is mostly about battery life
Intel isn't the only chip giant championing battery life over performance this year. AMD has revealed Carrizo, a processor range that's focused heavily on extending the running time of performance-oriented laptops. While there will be double-digit boosts to speed, there's no doubt that efficiency is the bigger deal here. The new core architecture (Excavator) is just 5 percent faster than its Kaveri ancestor, but it chews up 40 percent less energy at the same clock rate -- even the graphics cores use 20 percent less juice.
AMD roadmap shows Steamroller-based Opterons on track for 2013
AMD gave us a tease of its next-generation Steamroller architecture in 2012, but things weren't looking good for pro users when the initial timeline had current-generation Piledriver technology as the focus for Opterons in 2013. Thanks to a newer investor presentation, there's a glimmer of hope for the workstation and server users among us. Its roadmap shows Steamroller-equipped Opteron variants arriving this year, with an Excavator follow-up coming at an undetermined point in the future. There's nothing about specific timelines and models, as you might imagine -- AMD isn't going to spoil its plans quite so readily -- but the presentation reminds us that Steamroller will put an emphasis on the parallelism that's oh so vital to high-end computing. We're mostly glad to hear that IT backrooms will have something genuinely new to play with while we're off enjoying its Kaveri counterpart at home.
NASA's RASSOR robot shape-shifts to haul lunar soil, help make fuel and water
NASA believes our return to the Moon could be sustained by extracting water from the lunar soil to produce air and even fuel. But how to get large amounts of that soil without bringing heavy, failure-prone machinery? The agency's RASSOR (pronounced "razor") excavator robot might do the trick. Rather than wield big scoops, it has a pair of arm-mounted drums that can change the robot's profile and dig with far more efficiency than RASSOR's 100-pound weight would usually allow, using one drum as a grip. The robot's sheer flexibility is also key to its working for the estimated five years of NASA's plans: if the crawler ever overturns or gets caught, it can flip over and keep the main treads out of the ground while clearing out soil-related jams. There's enough refinement needed that a RASSOR 2 follow-up should be in testing around early 2014, but the sequel will be close enough to the ideal design that long-term Moon missions could have the little hauler as a passenger.
Radio Controlled EC280MG excavator is a big, bad Tonka come to life (video)
We don't cover all that many radio controlled objects on this program because, well, there are just so many of them. But, every now and again we catch sight of a truly special one, something like this excavator from Modellismo Maximo that's been around for awhile but we thought you'd want to check it out regardless. It's an RC version of the Despe EC280MG, scaled down to 1:14.5 scale and weighing in at an impressive 31.5kg (about 70lbs). It has six axes of movement and is just perfect for loading up the back of your toy trucks -- and then hauling them away, as you can see in a series of videos after the break (each with worse music than the previous). How much to get in on this kind of fun? A mere €4,160 -- $5,630. Nobody said diggin' like this would be cheap.
Is this the rumored Halo 3 Excavator?
var digg_url = 'http://www.digg.com/xbox_360/Is_this_the_Rumored_Halo_3_Excavator'; Recently, the guys over at the 7th Columnist did some digging and stumbled upon what looks to be a render of the rumored Halo 3 Brute Excavator weapon. If you aren't familiar, mention of the Excavator was discovered while digging through the Halo 3 beta code a while back, but Bungie has been quite mum about any details or acknowledgment of its existence. The Excavator render could easily be a fake, but it looks eerily similar to a weapon that was held by a Brute in the "Et Tu, Brute?" ViDoc. It's up in the air and for you to decide if this is our Excavator rendered in the flesh or if it's all hogwash. Now we just want to know if we'll be able to wield a Gravity Hammer come September.
NASA's moon-dirt digging competition ends sans a winner
This won't mark the first occasion (nor the last) in which a NASA challenge ends without a winner, but just as noted before the competition began, it looks like the quarter-million dollars in prize money will indeed be rolled over to next year. NASA's Regolith Excavation Challenge beckoned teams to conjure up autonomous digger bots that could move a given amount of mock moon dirt into a cell within a half hour, and unfortunately for crews hailing from Pismo Beach, Berkley, Rolla, and Rancho Palos Verdes, everyone left with their heads a-hangin'. The excavator built by Technology Ranch was able to notch first place by relocating just over 143-pounds in 30 minutes, but fell quite short on picking up any award monies. So for those of you who weren't exactly ready to go mano-a-mano with these guys and gals this time around, next year you've all got $750,000 on the line. [Warning: Read link requires subscription]
