US wants the world’s fastest supercomputer by 2025
President Obama has signed an executive order demanding that the US build the world’s fastest supercomputer by 2025. The National Strategic Computing Initiative has been implemented to get the country building an Exascale machine and not fall behind rival nations in the technological arms race. This supercomputer will be developed by arms of the federal government and then be harnessed to speed up research into a wide variety of topics. One example is that the hardware will be used to help NASA better understand turbulence for aircraft design, while another is to crunch the numbers for medical researchers.
The US may have more of the Top 500 supercomputers than any other nation, but its prestige in this area is slipping to nations like China and Japan. China’s Tianhe-2 has been the world’s fastest machine for two and a half years in a row, and the list’s authors feel that the US approaching is plunging to a “historical low.” With the weight of the federal government behind it, the NSCI is hoping to steal a march on its rivals and break new ground in the high performance computing sphere. With all of the various challenges that the planet is facing — challenges that we’re told Exascale computing will be able to fix — it can’t come soon enough.
Filed under: Desktops
Via: BBC News
Source: White House, (2) (.PDF)
LG partners with “Color Me Rad” for a race across the US to launch their new LG TONE Active headphones
LG is partnering with Color Me Rad for three races in its 2015 “Bigger Badder Radder Tour”. This match up is to celebrate the launch of LG’s new TONE Active wireless Bluetooth headphones.
The tour starts at Color Me Rad Boston on August 1st and continues to Seattle on August 15th. Finally ending in San Diego on August 22nd.
The LG TONE Active’s are perfect for fitness as they are wireless, stay put around your neck, and are water/sweat resistant with a certification of IPX3.
Press Release:
To celebrate the launch of the LG TONE Active™, the sporty new wireless Bluetooth headset in the award-winning TONE Series, LG Electronics is teaming up with Color Me Rad for three races in its 2015 “Bigger Badder Radder Tour.” LG will begin the tour at Color Me Rad Boston on Aug. 1, and then continue on to Seattle on Aug. 15 and San Diego on Aug. 22.
“LG’s TONE Active was designed to enable one’s fitness potential while listening to the music that empowers their workouts,” said Chang Ma, senior vice president of North American marketing, LG MobileComm USA, Inc. “Color Me Rad races are notorious for bringing a unique way to have fun while exercising. Through this partnership, we’re hoping to show Color Me Rad racers that they can stay connected through even the most colorful workouts.”Compatible with Bluetooth-enabled devices – including the all-new flagship LG G4 smartphone – TONE Active fits snugly around the neck with a stay-put, contoured design. TONE Active has a water resistance rating of IPX31, so it can withstand sweat. It also features retractable earbuds to alleviate tangled cords. Select Color Me Rad participants will get to wear the newly released TONE Active to experience firsthand how it’s the perfect workout accessory during America’s most colorful 5K event.
“We started Color Me Rad 5K to give people a chance to complete a fitness milestone and have fun while doing it,” said Emerson Hamilton, CEO of Color Me Rad. “Our participants will love LG’s TONE Active, as it will allow them a stylish and comfortable way to stay connected to their favorite music during any activity.”
Breakout features of the LG TONE Active include:
IPX3 Water and Sweat Resistance Rating – Designed to handle sweat, whether on the course or in the gym.
Durable, Rugged and Lightweight – Durable yet lightweight with a contoured, around-the-neck style that is comfortable to wear all day long.
Retractable Earbuds – Comes with two sizes of stabilizer tips for a more secure and comfortable fit and a simple solution for cord management.
Bluetooth® Wireless Technology – Hassle-free device connectivity, compatible with Bluetooth-enabled devices, including the LG G4.
Quad-Layer Speaker Technology™ and Digital MEMS Microphone – Robust bass, crisp treble, and exceptional voice clarity.
1 Water-resistant to spraying water based on IPX3 rating
Source: Prnewswire
Come comment on this article: LG partners with “Color Me Rad” for a race across the US to launch their new LG TONE Active headphones
The Big Picture: VHS monstrosities invade Iceland
French artist Ob Rey mashes together a number of different media for his latest series, dubbed “V”HS. The five apparitional black and white images, each of which is accompanied by a short film, is supposed to represent a post-human world in which monstrous beings burst forth into a confusing and frightful existence, their skeletal frames clad in VHS ribbon and whatever detritus could be found during the Icelandic production. Their visages are meant to invoke thought and questions regarding the forced obsolescence of humans and their electronics in our ever-accelerating march of technological advancement. Or something like that, at least. It’s art — it means whatever you think it means.
You can see the entire “V” HS Project on Ob Rey’s website.
Filed under: Cameras, Misc, HD
Via: Kill Screen
Source: Humantropy
Hands on with the Motorola Moto Pulse
This week, Motorola silently launched two new wireless audio products that are available right now. The company’s new wireless on-ear headphones is called Moto Pulse, coming with a built-in microphone that allows for hands-free calling. It uses a Bluetooth connection and that means you can use the Moto Pulse with phones, tablets, and computers. Both Android and iOS devices are supported here. The extent of Motorola’s attention to software doesn’t end there, though. The Motorola Connect app will ensure that you always know the status of the Moto Pulse, specifically its battery life and location.
While compact in size, the Moto Pulse has 40mm speaker drivers to pump out rich sound. Comfort, too, was made possible with the Moto Pulse and that’s seen in the pressure-free headband and cushioned ear cups.
Hit the break for the video.
Click here to view the embedded video.
The Moto Pulse is priced at $59 and comes in black and white color options.
[Motorola]
Come comment on this article: Hands on with the Motorola Moto Pulse
OnStar hack remotely starts cars, GM working on a fix
Hacker Samy Kamkar unveiled his latest triumph this morning: OwnStar, a tiny box that acts as a Wi-Fi hotspot and intercepts commands sent from a driver’s OnStar RemoteLink app, allowing an unauthorized user to locate, unlock or start the vehicle. Simply place the box somewhere in an OnStar-connected car and wait for the driver to start up the RemoteLink app within range of the vehicle. The driver’s smartphone should automatically connect to OwnStar’s network and, voila, the hacker now has all of the car owner’s information (email, home address, final four digits on a credit card plus expiration date), and control of the car. GM has already issued one patch this morning aimed at securing the RemoteLink app, but it was unsuccessful, according to Kamkar.
Kamkar never intended to wreak havok with OwnStar, he said in an interview with Wired. He wanted to expose a vulnerability in the OnStar app and help GM fix it — and it seems as if that’s precisely what’s happening. GM is working to patch the RemoteLink bug now and Kamkar says he’s in contact with the company as they fix it. Kamkar plans to reveal more technical details about OwnStar at Defcon 2015, which runs from August 6th to the 9th in Las Vegas.
OwnStar update: GM told WIRED that OnStar bug was fixed, however it’s not actually resolved yet. I spoke with GM & they’re working on it now
– Samy Kamkar (@samykamkar) July 30, 2015
This is the second major car-based hack to surface this month. On July 24th, Fiat Chrysler issued a voluntary recall of 1.4 million US vehicles with certain touchscreen entertainment systems, after Wired reported that it was possible to remotely cut the engine, disable and activate the brakes, and track the location of these cars.
Hands on with the Motorola Moto Surround
The Moto Surround joined the Moto Pulse as the two new audio products announced by Motorola earlier this week. The design of this set of wireless earbuds is unique because of who Motorola is targeting. Resting on your shoulders and around your collar, the Moto Pulse has blue wires that link the earbuds themselves. Motorola also made this device waterproof and sweatproof, clearly indicating the Moto Surround is for people who are active and spend a lot of time staying fit. Battery life, when playing music, should be up to twelve hours, outlasting probably any workout.
Motorola used aptX technology and that apparently gives the Moto Pulse its crisp highs, full lows, and clear mid-ranges.
Hit the break for the video.
Click here to view the embedded video.
Pricing for the Moto Surround is slightly higher than the Moto Pulse, coming in at $69.
[Motorola]
Come comment on this article: Hands on with the Motorola Moto Surround
Epic App Battles of Android: Beats Music vs. TIDAL
In the final installment of App Battles Round 1, we’ll be spectating the battle between Beats and TIDAL.
In the Black corner, we have TIDAL, Jay-Z’s premium with 500 000 downloads and a 3,5 star rating.
In the Red corner, we have Beats, Dr. Dre’s premium with 10 000 000 to 50 000 000 downloads and 4,5 star rating.
Who will win this battle between Jay-z and Dr. Dre? They are both in the ring and ready! FIGHT!
Round 1: App design
We’re gonna start this off by having a look at TIDAL first, and although they both have some design in common, I’ll about each app separately first.
The first thing you’ll notice is the dark design that it features.The entire app is based off a black background, which contrasts well with the album art and song titles. It’s ideal for night time as it doesn’t strain your eyes too much. While it certainly won’t be a bad idea to be able to customize it to your liking, I had no problem with the dull color combo.
The actual layout of everything was actually rather efficient and pleasing to use. It’s not cluttered or designed in a way that makes you despise it. There’s a simple panel that can be opened up by swiping on the left side of the screen. This is basically the main way you get around and swap between feature like “What’s new”, “TIDAL Rising” and of course all your playlists, favorite music, settings and the “Offline” mode toggle (We’ll chat more about these features later).
TIDAL certainly took some time to create a pleasurable experience.Everything is easy to use and easy to find. But how does Beats fare?
Beats has a simple color scheme, namely something made up of black and white, with the occasional spot of red. The bold text is punchy but not overdone, while the absence of material design makes you luster for what could’ve been something great. Again, themes do not exist so only thing you can choose is your music, but hey, this is not a big problem.
Fortunately the design is universal, which means the text and colors are the same throughout. You get the standard menu by swiping from your left, and the feeds from artists you follow are available by swiping from your right. Overall the graphics seemed great and there’s no place where Dr. Dre’s minions let their design guard down. At least that I could see.
Both the Red and Black team have had a fair fight this round. Although they put their best foot forward, it appears to be a tie. Perhaps one would’ve had the edge had they had the ability to color shift
| Service | Score /10 |
|---|---|
| Beats | 8 |
| TIDAL | 8 |
Winner: Tie
Round 2: Features
Both teams are refreshed and ready for Round 2! This time we’ll compare them head on.
When I opened Beats, it prompted me to pick a couple of artists and genre’s I liked. After the setup I saw that these made up the majority of the recommend songs, with very little presence of artists that I said I did not like. TIDAL, on the other hand, offers no such thing and throws you in the deep end. You’re by yourself to slowly find what you like amongst everything. It was rather inconvenient as most other streaming services prompt you to select your favorite’s. But that said, TIDAL offers HiFI, lossless audio quality with 1411kbps, significantly better than Beat’s 320kbps. For those that aren’t audiophiles, that basically means that TIDAL offers better music quality over Beat’s. You will need a good pair of headsets to make a difference though, and even if you’re running decent Internet speeds, the tracks might pause a few seconds in-between as the next one loads.
And of course, both offer offline modes. As the name hints, this allows you to save songs for times when you don’t have Internet, as you obviously won’t be able stream. Both worked effectively and it easy to implement as you just add the tracks to a playlist and flip the switch to “Offline”.
I should also mention that Beats offers over 20 million songs, while TIDAL offers over 30 million.
Although there is no defining feature that gives any of them a reasonable lead, I think it’s safer to say that TIDAL’s higher quality tracks will the larger selection has an edge over the ability to filter your favorite genres and artists when you start the app.
| Service | Score /10 |
|---|---|
| Beats | 8 |
| TIDAL | 9 |
Winner: TIDAL
Both opponents are equally bruised but TIDAL managed to throw a few more punches.
Round 3: Pricing
As much as we would like them to, free trials don’t last forever. Beats Music offers a 14 day free trial that allows you to test out the full version and see how much you like it. TIDAL is a bit more generous and offers 30 day trials that also allows full free access to premium features. The ‘Premium’ tag only applies to TIDAL which allows you access to HiFi tracks, or FLAC ( Free Lossless Audio Codec), the 14211kbps we talked about earlier.
| Service | Trial Period | Price Tier 1 | Price Tier 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beats Music | 14 Days | US $9.99 | – |
| TIDAL | 30 Days | US $9.99 (TIDAL Premium) | US $19.99 (TIDAL HiFi) |
It does seem that TIDAL is asking too much for $19.99 for something that only gives you more by upping the quality. Perhaps they would’ve had a more convincing deal if it was $14.99 or less. Beats only has one price plan. It should be mentioned that TIDAL has different plans including Family – which offers discounts for more people – and Student – which halves the price. Beats had no such deals and discounts, and might end up paying dearly for that.
Beats looses a considerable amount of points for lack of different tiers and discounts. TIDAL looses out at the price of Premium tag.
| Service | Pricing |
|---|---|
| Beats | 6 |
| TIDAL | 7 |
Round Winner: TIDAL
With 2/3 rounds won, TIDAL advances to the next round. Who will be his opponent? Keep tuned to androidguys.com to find out!
The post Epic App Battles of Android: Beats Music vs. TIDAL appeared first on AndroidGuys.
These may be specs for the LG G Flex 3
We always welcome a little peak into what’s to come. Some details regarding the next iteration in LG’s Flex line have sneaked in, with “top-end” written all over it.
Relayed to us via MobiPicker, the LG G Flex 3 is said to come packing Qualcomm’s latest, the Snapdragon 820 octa-core SoC. 4GB of RAM will accompany the beastly processor.
What’s interesting is the report states it will have a 6″ QHD screen. We saw LG reduce the size of this year’s G Flex by half an inch, implying that they went overboard the first time. It seems iffy that they would revert back.
Another interesting tidbit is that the chassis will be made out of metal. Past G Flex phones have had glossy, self-healing plastic. However, many noted that the plastic felt cheap. We have also heard in the past that LG is playing with the idea of metal phones, which backs up this claim.
Other juicy specs include:
- 20.7 MP rear and 8 MP front cameras
- 32GB storage (expandable)
- 3,500 mAh battery
- Fingerprint scanner
The report says to expect a launch in March 2016. Being that this is a whole eight months away, I wouldn’t put too much faith in this specific configuration. We’re just speculating at this point. Also, this year we saw the G Flex 2 debut at CES in January. So if LG follows the same path, the release timeframe should be January/Feburary.
Do you like what you’re hearing so far for the G Flex 3? What do you think if they were to go back to 6″?
The post These may be specs for the LG G Flex 3 appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Wizards Maze HD: Spooky Fun
Halloween might still be a while away, but who says we can’t have a bit of spooky fun? In Wizards Maze, the creepiness comes to life as you find your way through, you guessed it a maze. Can you handle the monsters, the confusing paths and elusive keys? Read on!
Setup
You’re greeted by the main menu upon opening up the game. The eerie font ushers you in, there’s a list of levels surrounded by various buttons, you select the “Start” button and you’re off. My character is placed in the maze and awaits my command, except I have no idea of what I’m actually doing and what my goal is. Fortunately my hands soon found the simple controls and within no time I was walking about. Although it’s simple, that’s no excuse for a non-existing tutorial. Nonetheless, I soon discovered I had to collect keys scattered around the maze, and unlock several doors to lead to the final portal for the next level. And talking about controls, you can choose various layouts that suit you best.
Gameplay
As previously stated, the game is based on finding your way around a maze. Obstacles like spiders and slimes crawl around aggressively, threatening to kill you if you’re not careful enough. Keys are placed in various strategic places, making you run back and forth to advance. Perhaps one of the funnest things you can do is shoot your magic balls of flames to attack enemies and interact with elements of the game; namely to break ice gates. I was constantly shooting just in the name of fun; I’m sure I’m not the only one who will be doing so. Strangely, there are adverts but they it only shows when I started the game up. The developers certainly had us in mind. Everything ran smoothly and no lag showed its ugly head throughout gameplay, which should be expected as the graphics aren’t exactly cutting edge. There could’ve also been some challenges or a storyline behind everything
Is it for me?
There’s no reason you shouldn’t attempt to give the game a spin. It can be played in short bursts or over long periods of time and would be ideal to fulfill any sudden gaming urges, unless you’re into hardcore zombie killing.
What we liked:
- Great, simple gameplay
- Easy User Interface
- Challenging levels
- Playful music
And not so much…
- Lack of tutorial
- No challenges or storyline behind the game
If you’re looking for something challenging yet easy to play, Wizard Maze is the ideal game for you. It’s really suitable for literally whenever you want to play, wherever. Early Halloween, anyone?
The post Wizards Maze HD: Spooky Fun appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Get the Kyocera Hydro Icon and six months of FREE service for $49.99
Ready for a huge deal? How about a great device and a year’s worth of service for less than some people pay for their monthly rate plan? If you’re looking to ditch your contract carrier, this package from FreedomPop is definitely worthy of your attention and may save you a significant deal of moolah, baby.
You can find this, and many other great tech bargains through our Deals page. Backed by Stack Commerce, there are daily promos, giveaways, freebies, and much more!
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AIVAnet 