TechEye |  |
- Gamers solve HIV problem
- iPhone 5S accelerometer stuffed-up by Bosch chip
- Most pirated flicks are those Hollywood will not sell
- IBM sees drop in revenue
- Intel to stick with 450nm plans
| Posted: 17 Oct 2013 02:55 AM PDT Scientists from the University of Washington solved a ten year old problem with the HIV virus structure by packing the image off to a bunch of gamers who solve these things for fun. The problem was that there was an enzyme, M-PMV retroviral protein, which exhibits AIDS-like behaviour, and which might hold a key role in building a cure. But supercomputers and other thinking tools could not come up with an idea about what the enzyme looked like. Someone from the University thought that Gamers playing spatial game Foldit might have a chance, since they were used to solving these problems. What surprised everyone is that it only took them ten days to work out a virtual 3D model by folding and turning it into a myriad of combinations. The gamers obtained the best one, which needed the lowest energy to maintain, and now the researchers have good idea how the enzyme works, and consequently how to attack it. Firas Khatib, a biochemist at the University of Washington and the lead author on the recently published research paper on the problem admitted that giving it to the gamers was a long shot. Foldit is a very simple game, which tackles folding proteins. To play the game you don’t need any biology background, just native spatial reasoning skills. Gamers are scored on how well they pack the protein, how efficiently hydrophobics are hidden and how clashes are cleared. Apparently it is easier than it sounds. The game allows players to chat with each other and collaborate, thus various gamers build on each others’ work. They collectively managed to crack the code for the most energy efficient enzyme structure. Computers were not able to do that because they do not have human-like spatial reasoning yet. Seth Cooper who is the lead designer and developer of Foldit, is hoping that more boffins will send the gamers problems that fit within the Foldit format. |
| iPhone 5S accelerometer stuffed-up by Bosch chip Posted: 17 Oct 2013 02:54 AM PDT Apple must be regretting choosing the Bosch Sensortech accelerometer for its iPhone 5S. A hardware bug is being reported on several sites claiming that on some games the chip creates a tilt to the left. RealityCap, a developer of 3D APIs, claims that the bug may be the new Bosch Sensortech accelerometer, which Apple selected because it used less power. ZDnet said the old iPhone 5 uses a STMicroelectronics LIS331DLH part and while they are both the same price, the Bosch saves power, but has a higher "output noise". According to RealityCap CEO Eagle Jones Bosch has different zero-g offset, or bias.. The ST part is +/- 20mg, while the Bosch part lists +/-95mg. This almost 5x greater offset range. In otherwords it is much less accurate. Unfortunately, hardware defects can't be patched with a simple iOS dot release. Jones thinks that developers can work around the chip flaw by incorporating a calibration procedure into their apps - like the Compass app does when you first launch it. This would allow the app to determine the accelerometer bias which can then be subtracted from the data coming from the accelerometer to get a correct reading. |
| Most pirated flicks are those Hollywood will not sell Posted: 17 Oct 2013 02:52 AM PDT It is starting to look like Hollywood has only itself to blame for pirated movies. The top ten pirated movies are mostly those which Big Content, for reasons known only to itself, has refused to release legally but are not available at the movie theatres any more. A new website called PiracyData.org tracks the most pirated movies of the week links to Can I Stream It? to show whether file sharers could have bought or rented the movie online instead. PiracyData's chart shows, four out of the 10 most pirated movies cannot be bought legally online. Out of the remaining six movies, three are available for full-priced purchase, but not for rent. None of the top 10 movies can be watched through subscription streaming services such as Netflix. So, in other words, viewers are pushed toward piracy when they can't buy or at least rent the movies they want to watch. Each movie on the list came out this year, but is no longer showing in major theatres. With the exception of three films, most of these movies are now in an awkward stage where you can buy them on DVD, but cannot rent them online. However no one wants to buy DVDs these days. People are uised to pressing a button and streaming a movie instantly. So Hollywood's idea of withholding new movies from digital rental just to inflate DVD sales is costing them money. Particularly for those like the Lone Ranger which people will watch once and instantly delete it from their brain to make way for more important stuff. To be fair to Big Content, some of the movies on the list are legally available and are big hits on the pirate sites. It is just that many of them certainly would not exist if Hollywood became a little more 21st century. Top pirated flicks are (in order of appearance): Pacific Rim, White house Down, Elysium, The Internship The Lone Ranger, Monsters University, The Mortal Instruments City of Bones, 2 Guns, After Earth and (appropriately last) This Is The End |
| Posted: 17 Oct 2013 02:32 AM PDT Big Blue startled the cocaine nose jobs of Wall Street by reporting a four percent drop in third quarter revenue. IBM shares fell six percent in after-hours trade to $175.56 as Wall Street inflicted its revenge for proving its predictions on Big Blue profits wrong. Chief Financial Officer Mark Loughridge said that third quarters tended to be tricky but added the company faced some "particular challenges" this year. As you might expect, profits in its hardware business suffered and declined by $1 billion and currency effects had a $500 million year-to-year negative impact, Loughridge said. Loughridge pointed out that there was less demand for hardware as software replaces traditional infrastructure, which was one of the reasons that Big Blue was shifting to become a more software focused business. Chinese hardware sales were hit. China represents five percent of IBM's business and 40 percent of that was hardware related. There was not much IBM could have done about that. China's growth has slowed this year, impacting corporate and public spending as the country develops an economic reform plan. He said that China sales were expected to be down for another couple of quarters. Revenue dropped four percent to $23.7 billion, below Wall Street analysts' expectations of $24.74 billion. Quarterly net income rose six percent to $4.0 billion which was better than expected. However, it was the revenue drop which had Wall Street spitting tacks. |
| Intel to stick with 450nm plans Posted: 17 Oct 2013 02:30 AM PDT Chipzilla is continuing to write cheques to support its 450mm wafer initiative despite worries about a slow down in the PC market. Intel's supreme Dalek Brian Krzanich said he wants volume production of chips on 450mm wafers in the second half of this decade. The move to 450mm wafers is an extremely complex process which will take at least ten years and is a long term goal for any outfit. But the fact he will not cut spending on it means that Krzanich thinks the slowdown in the PC market is not heralding the death of PCs and a move to mobile so much as a hiccup. Krzanich said that Intel had not changed its timing on 450mm wafers and was still targeting the second, latter half of this decade. Over that period of time you are bound to get "mixed signals" about whether or not there will be a big pay off at the end of it. Intel saw great value in 450mm as it brings tremendous economic value to everybody who participates in it, Krzanich said. Chipzilla has confirmed the beginning of construction of the fab D1X module 2. The new facility will be the world's first semiconductor manufacturing factory processing 450mm wafers, which will be used primarily for development purposes and which will lead the way for the whole multi-billion dollar industry. But there is some heavy expenditure involved in this glorious ten year plan. Apparently it is going to set Intel back nearly $2 billion this year. That cash is ear-marked build Intel's first 450mm [D1X module 2] development facility. The plan is to have 450mm equipment available in 2015. Intel is currently equipping its D1X development fab to process 300mm wafers using 14nm manufacturing technology and expects to initiate production this year. While the D1X module 1 facility is 450mm-capable, it will come online as a 300mm fab. |
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