ALU
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Another Amazon warehouse has reportedly received approval for a union election
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has reportedly approved a petition for another Amazon warehouse union election.
Report: Developers sound off on PS4, Xbox One development progress
Though the PS4 and Xbox One are far from finalized ahead of their retail debut this November, developers have told Edge anonymously that the PS4 is currently in a better state of performance. With launch about two months out, "the hardware isn't locked" yet. These sources claim the PS4 is more capable: The same game, running on both consoles, is at 1080p at 30 fames-per-second on PS4, but runs at a lower resolution and frame rate on Xbox One as of right now. Sony and Microsoft are continuously updating their graphics drivers for each console, which seems to be the point of contention amongst console developers right now. Microsoft "has been late on their drivers and that has been hurting them," another source claimed. The PS4, which has the speedier GDDR5 memory over the Xbox One's DDR 3, also currently yields faster read/write times than its competitor. Last week, Microsoft announced a raised CPU speed for the Xbox One and, in August, the GPU got a bump, but these sources were quick to downplay the improved speeds. "The clock speed update is not significant, it does not change things that much," a developer source told Edge. "Of course, something is better than nothing."
Working 16-bit computer built inside Minecraft
Sure, lots of players are building memories and geek tributes in the incredibly popular indie sandbox game Minecraft, but here's something actually functional: a working 16-bit ALU (arithmetic logic unit) designed entirely in the game. The "wires" are made from Redstone, a unit in the game that can carry a fiery charge. So to calculate numbers, creator "theinternetftw" just lights torches representing binary numbers on one end, and then waits to see which torches (representing binary digits) light up on the other; giving him the mathematical answer he's looking for. Crazy? Yes. Nerdy? Very. Awesome? Indeed. All the hard work must have been worth it -- theinternetftw has been posting about the project on Reddit and reportedly got a job offer out of it. But he's not done yet: He wants to add some memory to the computer and even make it "Hack" compatible, which means it would compile and run actual code (albeit very, very slowly). Said Minecraft creator Markus Persson via Twitter last night, "I saw the ALU, and I wet myself! Seriously, I got a hose and wet myself. With pee."
ALU Media Wall makes wires disappear easily
If what you really want is a neat cable-less living room, a flat-screen seeming to be suspended on its own and don't want to tear into your walls to connect everything, ALU may have the television stand for you. It's a fake wall plus shelves for your equipment, that will support up to a 47-inch 185-pound flat-panel TV on its aluminum frame. We haven't seen this show up in the HD Beat flickr group yet, anyone willing to lay down $1,398 for the privilege?[Via QJ.net]
