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Pop culture's many takes on artificial intelligence
Over the years, artists, writers, filmmakers and game studios have all tackled the concept of artificial intelligence. Often their vision is of machines that are brutally hostile to humans. Philip K. Dick envisioned androids that murder their owners. The iconic HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey ... also murders his human companions. Of course, there's Skynet, which launches an all-out war on mankind. We could go on like this for a long time. But there are also those, like Spike Jonze, who envision us having a more complex relationship with computer-based personalities; one in which they could even be love interests. And in Star Trek: The Next Generation Data is not only a "good" android, but he's often the hero of the show. We've pulled together 13 of our favorite portrayals of AI over the years and put them in the gallery below. It is by no means comprehensive. So please, let us know what we missed in the comments or tweet at us (@engadget) to let us know your favorite AI character from the film, TV or books using the hashtag #EngadgetAIWeek.
NVIDIA's faulty laptop GPU settlement starts paying out, file your repair and reimbursement claims now
Got an old Dell, HP or Apple laptop sitting around with a defective NVIDIA GPU? The company's finally ready to compensate you. That proposed class-action settlement from late last year has been approved by a California court, and the company's taking claims for repairs, replacements and reimbursements at a specially-designated website until March 14th. If you've got an affected Dell or Apple MacBook Pro, you can get the faulty chips replaced free of charge, while HP owners get a whole new replacement computer, though considering the choices there are the budget Compaq Presario CQ50 or an ASUS Eee PC T101MT, you might be better off selling your old parts on eBay. Finally, if you've already paid to get your components replaced and have the docs to prove it, you might be able to get refunded -- NVIDIA's set up a $2 million pool to be divided among all such reimbursements. Find everything you need at the links below. [Thanks, Kalyan]
Epic Games to demonstrate new Unreal Engine 3 features at GDC
Though we usually have some expectations for what big announcements will be dropped at the annual Game Developers Conference, the happenings of this year's event, beginning next Monday, seem to be veiled in secrecy. However, Epic Games recently announced something for PC gamers to look forward to -- the developer will be showcasing some of the big changes it's implementing in Unreal Engine 3 during GDC 2009.Among said changes is the introduction of the Unreal Lightmass, which will add "high-quality static lighting with next-generation effects." It will also include a few tools to make things easier on Unreal-focused artists and designers, such as the Master Control Program, which tracks and collects statistics of online gaming activity. It also enslaves and destroys its fellow programs, attempting to take over the world from within the ENCOM mainframe computer. End of line!
Movies that could be MMOs: Tron
"Greetings, programs." These are the first words you hear as you enter the vast, coldly glittering chamber, prodded forward by a hulking, cowled figure wielding a shockstaff. You glance nervously around you. Your companions seem equally confused and frightened. High above you upon a raised platform, glowing redly, is an Enforcer -- one of the Master Control Program's elite warriors. "You have been chosen to compete against each other for our amusement. Failure to compete is rewarded with deresolution. A victory ensures another day of life. You shall compete until you lose. A loss is punished with deresolution. Today you will receive training. Tomorrow you shall compete. End of line."One of the cowled figures roughly thrusts a glowing blue disc into your trembling hands, which you hold to yourself like a lifeline, which it is. Your training begins.Released into theaters in 1982, Tron is a movie about computers, written before the emergence of the World Wide Web. It posited a world inside the hardware, occupied by anthropomorphized programs. Though some of its ideas bear little resemblance to reality, the story and themes still hold up to repeated viewing, and it's a fun ride with interesting visuals. Despite the numerous adaptations into videogame form the movie has endured, the world of Tron could make a fun and engaging MMO. We'll take a look at how its mechanics might work after the jump.
NVIDIA's nForce 780i SLI MCP gets official
Hot on the heels of NVIDIA's 3-way SLI system hitting all sorts of test benches comes word that the outfit is cranking out its brand new nForce 780i SLI MCP (media and communications processor). That's right kids, the self-proclaimed "must-have gaming platform for Intel Yorkfield CPUs" is finally out in the open, and aside from playing nice with Intel's QX9650, it also supports PCI Express Gen 2.0, 3-way SLI and the new Enthusiast System Architecture specification. Apparently, a number of "motherboard partners" including Asus, Falcon Northwest, HP, Gigabyte, Hypersonic and Voodoo PC are already planning to offer nForce 780i SLI MCP-based products, and judging by NVIDIA's holiday themed press release, we'd wager that you'll see the aforementioned items seeping out sooner rather than later.[Via HotHardware]
Samsung develops 16-chip multi-stack package technology
We already knew Samsung was working on PRAM as an alternative to the slightly more common NAND flash memory, and now the mega corporation has unveiled a way to cram 16GB of storage onto an 8Gb NAND chip. Improving on its current 10-chip MCP, the leaner, meaner 16-chip multi-chip package technology slimmed down the overall thickness of each fabricated wafer to just 30 micrometers (about the size of a human cell), and trimmed the height down to 1.4 micrometers (previously 1.6 micrometers). All this "wafer thinning, layer redistributiing, chip sawing, and wire bonding" technology allows engineers to increase the number of chips stacked vertically in order to yield a higher density module with heightened storage capacity. While Samsung didn't mention how quickly we can expect these beefed up NAND units to hit the market, we can't envision it holding off too long considering the competition.[Via TGDaily]
