The Young Ones Too Prefer iPhone To Windows 7 Phone

What’s the best way to ensure your child grows up looking like a geek with thick framed glasses hung low on their nose even before they start schooling? Expose them to electronic gadgets like the iPhone, Windows Phone 7, iPad, game consoles and so many more at young age just because you can buy apps rather than real learning tools and face it, it actually does look much cooler. Flashcards is probably a vital part of a toddler’s life, almost every one of them owns one, but with the availability of apps like the Toddler flashcards from iTot Apps, who needs a physical pack of cards that can’t talk?

But that’s not the focus of the story today. According to iTot Apps who has the same application for both iOS and Windows Phone 7 platforms, it has been found that toddlers, or rather parents, prefer the application on an iPhone as opposed to a Windows Phone 7. The app only sells 1/10^th the number of installs on Windows Phone 7 platform than on iOS. Now it’s pretty obvious why, because Windows Phone 7 has just been released not too long ago whilst iPhone has been around for years. Even if they compared for only a short period of time, people are obviously more familiar with iPhones.

Sega Introduces Peeing Game !

Ever walked into a public toilet shared by both men and women and find urine all over the seat and floor? It’s a nasty sight that makes your pee goes back into your body because you don’t even want to go near the filth men created because they can’t be bothered to aim at the toilet bowl when they pee. Sega has just unveiled their peeing game that can be controlled using urine stream to help encourage men to aim at properly at the urinal. The game, named “Toirettsu”, comes with several mini-games that utilize a sensor to measure the speed of one’s urine stream. Some of the games include erasing graffiti, blow a lady’s skirt and such.

AMD Released Catalyst 10.12 WHQL Driver Suite

AMD today released its latest version of the AMD Catalyst software suite, Catalyst 10.12 WHQL, as well as unveiled a Catalyst 10.12 Preview driver that lets you use the latest version Catalyst Control Center (CCC) that features a more functional user interface. The new CCC features a reworked UI that allows easier adjustment of 3D settings and image quality; makes setting up multiple displays easier; and helps adjust power settings to optimize battery life (on notebooks).

Apart from that, Catalyst 10.12 introduces DivX Accelerated support for AMD Radeon HD 6800 series GPUs; support for OpenGL 4.1, including new ARB extensions introduced with OpenGL 4.1; and an updated AMD Stream v2.3 API.

DOWNLOAD:AMD Catalyst 10.12 for Windows 7/Vista 64-bit, Windows 7/Vista 32-bit, Windows XP 32-bit, Windows XP 64-bit
A complete list of changes follows:

AMD Catalyst 10.12 Preview – Featuring the New Catalyst Control Center

• Try out the New Catalyst Control Center now!
o Grab it here: http://game.amd.com

• The New Catalyst Control Center enables a simplified user experience to help users get the most out of their AMD product
o Easily enable 3D settings to enhance game image quality
o Setup multiple displays to increase productivity
o Adjust power settings to increase battery life

Highlights of the AMD Catalyst 10.12 Windows release include:
Support for DivX on the AMD Radeon 6800 Series

• With DivX software installed on an AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series and later GPU and the DivX Accelerated solution, consumers can enjoy an improved DivX video playback experience by lowering CPU load, extending computer battery life on notebooks, reducing noise on home theater PCs and improving overall computer operation.
o Grab the DivX Accelerated download from here (Available December 15) http://go.divx.com/accelerated

Support for OpenGL 4.1

• New features introduced in OpenGL 4.1
o Full compatibility with OpenGL ES 2.0 APIs for easier porting between mobile and desktop platforms
o The ability to query and load a binary for shader program objects to save re-compilation time
o The capability to bind programs individually to programmable stages for programming flexibility
o 64-bit floating-point component vertex shader inputs for higher geometric precision
o Multiple viewports for a rendering surface for increased rendering flexibility

• New ARB extensions introduced with OpenGL 4.1
o Linking OpenGL sync objects to OpenCL event objects for enhanced OpenCL interoperability
o The ability to set stencil values in a fragment shader for enhanced rendering flexibility
o Features to improve robustness, for example when running WebGL applications
o Callback mechanisms to receive enhanced errors and warning messages

AMD Stream 2.3 SDK release

• Performance improvements for AMD’s OpenCL toolset
• Support UVD video hardware component through OpenCL driver (Windows 7 only)
• Support for the Stream Profiler on Linux (command line version)
• Support added for AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series and AMD Radeon HD 6900 Series
• Support for FFT and BLAS-3 libraries
• Stream Profiler enhancements (including timeline visualization)
• Resolves a number of bug fixes from the Stream SDK 2.2 release

Asus Introduce Radeon HD6870 DirectCu Graphic Card

ASUS rolled out its second AMD Radeon HD 6870 graphics card, and its first non-reference design one: the HD 6870 DirectCu. The card features two features that make it supposedly better than the reference design, the Direct Cu GPU cooler, and a refined PCB design that make use of high-grade components. To begin with, the DirectCu GPU cooler combines a GPU base in which copper heatpipes make direct contact with the GPU die, conveing heat to a dense aluminum fin array which is cooled by a quiet fan.

The PCB makes use of "Super Alloy" voltage regulation components, such as Super Alloy chokes, Super Alloy capacitors, and Super Alloy MOSFETs, that not only increase durability, but also result in a cooler operation. The card is also factory-overclocked slightly, with the GPU running at 915 MHz but memory staying at 4200 MHz GDDR5 effective. Display connectivity includes two DVI, and one each of DisplayPort and HDMI. Other features include Super Hybrid Engine (which manages clock speeds based on load), and Voltage Tweak (which allows adjustment of voltages). ASUS' new card is yet to be priced.

Laptops Could Be Harmful to Male Reproductive System

Notebooks may also be known as laptops but they’re definitely not something that should go onto the top of your lap especially if you’re a guy. According to researchers, it has been found that heat transmitted from a laptop to a guy’s lap and ultimately their scrotum can affect and even damage sperm. As their legs are usually closed to keep a laptop balanced on their lap, their scrotums will heat up quickly – within 10 to 15 minutes – to a dangerous temperature and the guys won’t even feel a thing. A research was conducted on 29 young men and it was found that even with a lap pad under the computer, the men’s scrotums will overheat quickly.

Even with the help of lap pads, pillows and such to act as a shield between the laptop and the men’s lap, the researchers stated that they’re not enough to protect them from the heat. Even with their legs positioned wide apart to allow for air flow in that area, it will still take less than 30 minutes before they began overheating.

There are no studies done to see if this problem can affect these men’s fertility but other research found that even a 1 degree Celsius rise of temperature in their reproductive area is enough to damage sperm. Although there is no solid proof that if these men carry on using their laptop on their lap for long periods of time could cause them to become infertile, Dr. Yefim Sheynkin, a urologist at the States University of New York at Stony Brook, said that it could contribute to reproductive problems.

If you’re trying to conceive a baby or would want to have a baby in the future, it’s better to be safe than sorry. Although infertility could be caused by general health and lifestyle factors, there’re no reasons to increase the risk of infertility.

(Source: Reuters)

AMD Introduced 3 New Processors Today.

AMD rolled out three new processors today, the six-core Phenom II X6 1100T Black Edition, Athlon II X3 455, and the Phenom II X2 565 Black Edition. The new flagship of AMD's processor lineup, the Phenom II X6 1100T, is based on the AM3 socket, supporting DDR3 and DDR2 memory on older AM2+ motherboards. It carries a nominal clock speed of 3.30 GHz, is based on the 45 nm "Thuban" silicon, features 512 KB of L2 cache per core, and 6 MB of L3 between all six cores. It features the TurboCore technology, which bumps clock speed by a few hundred MHz when it senses high load. As a Black Edition chip, it features an unlocked bus multiplier. Despite its increased clock speed, the 1100T has a TDP of 125W. This chip goes for US $265.

Next up, is the Phenom II X2 565 Black Edition. Clocked at 3.40 GHz, the X2 565 is based on the Callisto silicon (which is Deneb with two cores locked), featuring 512 KB of cache per core, and 6 MB shared L3 cache. This one has a TDP of 80W, and is priced at US $115. Lastly, there's the Athlon II X3 455, a triple-core chip based on the "Rana" silicon (which is Propus with one core locked), it lacks an L3 cache, but features 512 KB L2 per core. With a TDP of 95W, this one goes for $87.

AVG Update Cripples Windows

Yesterday an update to the popular antivirus suite AVG left many users computers unable to boot. After rebooting, as requested by the AVG updater, Windows crashes while trying to load certain AVG drivers. The error message reads "STOP: c0000135 The program cannot start because %hs is missing from your computer". Since the culprit drivers load even during safe mode there is no way to boot Windows. AVG recommends using the AVG rescue disc located here. After booting from the disc users should use midnight commander to rename their AVG folder, usually located at C:program files (x86)AVG, to any other name and then booting windows normally. However, any bootable flash drive or CD with an OS that can access NTFS file systems can be used to accomplish this task. I used a bootable Ubuntu flash drive.