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The Green Grid: big iron goes green
We can almost hear the guys at the nuke plant wincing as AMD's The Green Grid consortium took to the wires today to remind everyone of the impressive roster of companies they've enlisted (including borad members IBM, HP, Sun, Dell, and now also Microsoft and even archival Intel). The means to the end (of excessive server power draw, that is), The Green Grid is working to standardize benchmarking of performance per watt; they claim that once they can standardize performance metrics across processors and platforms, they can better hone their efforts to cutting down the the world's electric bill for servers n' related gear (which in 2005 had ballooned to $7.5 billion annually). We're still a bit hazy as to why agreement on performance metrics will affect the fact that chipmakers should be as focused on increasing power efficiency as they are performance, but at least one company's already taking some cogent steps. ColdWatt announced today they've got a line of seemingly no-compromise enterprise power supplies from 650 - 1200 watts that generate 45% less heat and consumer 30% less power. They may not be Green Grid members, but that should help out a bit in making your company's grid a little greener.Read- The Green GridRead - ColdWatt
Edinburgh scientists craft microscopic nanomachines
There's apparently a good bit of conflict at the University of Edinburgh, as we've got one esteemed fellow claiming that nanotech products are potentially dangerous, and now we've got a professor of chemistry insinuating that his nanomachines can change the world. Regardless of their personal differences, David Leigh has borrowed an idea from 1867 in crafting "a minuscule motor that could lead to the creation of microscopic nanomachines," and while he credits the "Maxwell's Demon" as its inspiration, he hopes these plans will actually lead to something substantial. The bantam motor is entirely solar-powered, and has been "devised to trap molecules as they move in a certain direction under their natural motion." Preliminary tests have shown a nanomachine moving a drop of water uphill by using molecular force, which gives researchers hope that this discovery will allow these diminutive machines to "do things that are much closer to what biological machines do." Of course, even Mr. Leigh admits that predicting just how this can or will effect society is difficult, but considering that he's aiming to to bring things that "could happen in a Harry Potter film" to fruition, we won't count him out just yet.
Sun switches Solaris to Intel chips -- all the cool kids are doing it
Intel doesn't seem to be content with its recent performance and market share wins over AMD, it's really going for the kill here. The chip giant just snapped up another partner in x86 crime: Sun Microsystems. Sun and Intel are announcing a "broad strategic alliance" today to promote Intel Xeon workstations and servers running the Solaris OS. Sun and AMD have been buddy buddy for a little while now, with AMD64 chips being heavily promoted with Solaris as of late, but it looks like those Intel roadmaps and market share promises were just too good to pass up. On Sun's end, Solaris will be optimised up for upcoming single, dual and quad processor Xeon systems that can run Solaris, Windows and Linux, which are due for 2007. Sun will also be working with Intel on "4-way systems," but doesn't seem to be doing away with its current SPARC and X64 offerings just yet. For Intel's part, the chip maker "is embracing Solaris as a mainstream OS," and is joining in a Solaris OEM agreement to allow Intel the option to distribute and support the Solaris OS. Intel will also lend a hand optimizing Solaris and Java for Xeon, and is putting its stamp of approval on OpenSolaris, open Java and NetBeans as well. The two companies "anticipate rapid growth of Solaris on Xeon platforms," but with a mere 4200 apps on "800+ platforms," there sure seems to be a lot of room to grow for Sun.
Fujitsu cranks out commercial 5.8GHz WiMAX SoC
While it hasn't come quick nor easy, it looks like more and more vendors are jumping on the WiMAX train, and just a day after Horizon chose Navini to get its WiMAX on, Texas Instruments, ORZA Networks, and Sun Create Electronics are becoming some of the first to receive shipments of Fujitsu's chip. The 5.8GHz WiMAX baseband system-on-chip (SoC) is dubbed the "industry's first" to become commercially available, and while it supports frequencies ranging from 2GHz to 11GHz in both licensed and unlicensed bands, its also "being used in the industry's first commercially available fixed WiMAX CPE supporting the 5.8GHz band." Of course, these all-in-one chips are being marketed and sold specifically to ODMs, but chances are it'll have something to do with your connection to WiMAX if Fujitsu has anything to do with it.[Via FarEastGizmos]
Philips patents system for UV exposure data via phone
Ever spend a lazy day at the beach, letting the hours drift by under a stratosphere heavily depleted of ozone, only to come home and discover that your skin's turned redder than the Cherry Chocolate in your pocket? Philips has the solution to the pollution in a patent filing recently made public -- but we've gotta warn you, it doesn't look cheap. First, we've gotta build a nationwide network of UV sensors that are capable of transmitting their status to nearby cell towers. Then, we need said towers to know how to process the data and alert nearby phones of the badness of the sun's rays based on the user's current location. For the coup de grâce, Philips also throws in the ability to notify the user of a recommended SPF number, but right now we're more concerned about the sheer mass of infrastructure required to get the basic setup up and running. Don't get us wrong, it'd be nice to avoid using our common sense to avoid sunburn, but this is one system we don't see coming to fruition.[Via New Scientist Tech]
Sun defeated by Glare Shield
Pfft... the sun. It's so overrated. Sure, it gives us the heat the planet needs in order to sustain life, but dammit... it gets in the way of some fine outdoor gaming sessions. Thankfully, the Glare Shield will help get rid of the problems caused by that pesky source of vitamin D.Not only will the Glare Shield protect the screen from the harmful rays of the sun, it'll give you the privacy you want in a much less... conspicuous way.[Via PSP GadgetZ]
Italian village gets lit up thanks to gargantuos mirror
Considering nobody (well, mostly) likes to be alone in the dark for months on end, a group of Italians have devised a method to brighten everyone's day. Due to their position around numerous mountaintops that cut off direct sunlight and warmth during the winter months, the villagers were previously left to fend off darkness and cold without any external assistance, but thanks to a ridiculously large mirror (and some clever engineering), all that's changed. The sun-challenged hamlet nestled in the Ossola Valley now has a "towering 26- by 16-foot mirror installed on the flank of one bluff," and it utilizes a "computer to follow the sun's path and cast its rays back on Viganella." The project, seven years in the making, was reportedly difficult to construct and fund, but now that they've forked out the €100,000 ($131,260) and rediscovered the sun, we imagine the current population of 185 will likely be on the rise when envious folks from neighboring towns start to move in.
Sun's Project Blackbox -- datacenter in a container
We're typically not of the ilk to bust out a post on a Sun datacenter solution or yet another clustered supercomputer, but technically Sun's Project Blackbox is portable -- if you consider a shipping container portable. We wouldn't believe it if it were anyone else, but the gimmick here is Project Blackbox is a shock mounted transportable datacenter capable of accommodating up to 250 Sun Fire T1000s or x64 servers, with up to 7 terabytes of memory and as many as 1.5 petabytes of disk or 2 petabytes of tape storage -- just supply water and power, and the thing will run on its own. (Whether or not you actually plug it into your network is another matter entirely.) Their big sales pitch here is that the cash-flush "Web 2.0" company which wants to go green probably needs a simple way of shipping around or deploying an entirely pre-constructed IT infrastructure; see, apparently Project Blackbox is recyclable and is designed to run independently on wind or even Martian solar power (we kid you not, pictures after the break), though our favorite deployment scenario is definitely the datacenter in the parking garage. We never thought getting your megacorp's server farm jacked by a valet was going to redefine corporate data security, but hey, this industry changes daily, and when you're Sun and your competition's ten thousand gutted Linux desktops at a fraction of the price, the publicity stunts you've got to pull start taking bizarre new shapes. That said, we're planning on deploying at least one or two to the next Jobsnote so the F5-trigger happy in the house don't spoil all the fun.[Thanks, Reese]
Sun joins Blu-ray Disc Association Board of Directors
Coming directly on the heels of Fox announcing we will see Blu-ray Java enabled movies in 2006, the Blu-ray Disc Association has announce Sun Microsystems is joining the Board of Directors. Sun will continue to play a key role in supporting content providers enabling BD-J support in future Blu-ray releases. Reuters reports that the BDA is looking for "more muscle" to join with the various CE manufacturers and content companies although they did not indicate who that is specifically. If this truly leads to more announcements like the one earlier today and advanced BD-J features in an increasing number of Blu-ray movies then we applaud the move.Read - 20th Century Fox, Sun, Time Warner boost Blu-ray - ReutersRead - Blu-ray Disc Association Welcomes Sun Microsystems as Newest Board Member - BusinessWire
The Command and Conquer DS project
If it's one thing we crave more of on our dual-screened handheld, it's some good RTS action. Enter the Command & Conquer DS project, where the goal appears to get Command & Conquer: Tiberian Dawn running on the DS. The project looks to still be in its infancy, but is making some strides toward achieving the goal. Partly because we have a lot of love in our hearts (we aren't exactly human) for those vigilant homebrewsters who sit there coding away late into the morning with only the soft fizz of an open can of Mountain Dew and dim glow of the monitor to keep them company. Partly because we want to try the game. Well, maybe mostly, so do us a favor and try to help out any way you can. The faster it is released the faster we can...love you?[Via Gaming Dump; Thanks Randy!]
Webzen: a lot of fuss for one release
One MMO company definitely wants to get noticed at this E3. Webzen's booth is big, almost as large as nearby THQ and Activision, and they're putting on a show for the crowds. With dancing booth babes, a loud emcee and armour-clad models -- as well as plastering all the cafeteria tables with ads -- Webzen's attack on the Western world is well and truly here. Of Webzen's three games being shown at E3, only one is out in the near future -- Huxley. Soul of the Ultimate Nation will make its way to the U.S. in 2007 (no word of an European release), and Project Wiki is slated for a Korea-only release at the moment. So why the big fuss? Webzen believe that in Huxley they have the tools to break into the Western market, and make a name for themselves worldwide. The joint Xbox 360/PC release is at once a risk and an adventure for them -- and they want gamers to sit up and pay attention to it.
Hands on with Soul of the Ultimate Nation
Korean MMO company Webzen is launching an attack on the Western world with Huxley, but the company isn't confining itself to the MMOFPS genre. Soul of the Ultimate Nation is a fantasy-themed MMO with a distinctive Eastern style that will be launched in North America during 2007 (it's currently in open beta in Korea). Fantasy MMOs are ten a penny these days, so we asked Webzen representatives what makes SUN different. They are banking on its graphical style to win fans, and also its competitive nature -- players enter into 'competitive hunting' with others, rather than co-operating as in many other MMOs. The game also features voice chat amongst adventuring parties and guilds.
Intel renames next-gen dual-core chips "Core 2 Duo," unveils quad-core Tukwila
Intel's been busy in the realm of multi-core processors lately, first unveiling their quad-core replacement for the Itanium Montecito, named Tukwila, and today -- taking a page out of MC "2 Legit 2 Quit" Hammer's book -- renaming the next-gen mobile Merom and desktop Conroe dual-core chips "Core 2 Duo." What's more, the company announced that another version of the processor will be released for performance junkies, called, not surprisingly, "Core 2 Extreme." As for Tukwila, the deets on this server-targeted chip came to light thanks thanks to a little digging by Real World Technologies, who found a set of slides that Intel recently presented on the topic at a conference in Asia. According to RWT, Tukwila will run at an estimated 40 gigaflops, sport 6MB of L3 cache for each core, and feature other additions that IT-types will likely be into, including an on-die FB-DIMM memory controller and Common Systems Interconnect (CSI) router. First called "Tanglewood" and scheduled for a 2007 rollout, Tukwila will now be released in 2008 and go head-to-head with other enterprise offerings from Intel and Sun, probably making it an exciting year for those aforementioned IT-types.Read- Core 2 Duo [Thanks, Dave Z.]Read- Tukwila [Via The Register]
Solaris on an Intel iMac
The OSes just keep on coming! The latest non-Apple OS to boot on an Intel Mac, thanks to Boot Camp, is Solaris. That's right, a Sun engineer managed to get a build of Solaris up and running on his Intel iMac. It isn't fully functional yet, but I have no doubt that it will be soon.Macs are fast becoming the Swiss Army knives of computing.[via OSNews]
