According to software development firm Devil Mountain Software, Service Pack 3 for Windows XP is a “must have” update. Because when they ran Office productivity test suite on a preview version of SP3, they found performance boosts of 10%. So in case Windows users needed another performance-oriented reason not to upgrade to Vista, they just got one. [yahoo via lifehacker]
In a recent interview with Gulf News, AMD’s CEO Hector Ruiz took the gloves off and went straight for Intel’s throat. Angry about Intel following AMD’s lead in areas like X86-64 (64-bit) technology yet dominating the market, Ruiz let loose to the media. “If you look at the last five years, if you look at what major innovations have occurred in computing technology, every single one of them came from AMD. Not a single innovation came from Intel.
Oh, but there’s more!
newVideoPlayer("cagwiifit_gizmodo.flv", 475, 376);Japan native CheapyD from gaming deals site Cheapassgamer got his hands on Nintendo’s new exercise game Wii Fit and undressed it for the world to see. Verdict: we forget how thin the board is. While the concept resembles step aerobics, nothing about the experience does (from the brief trade show hands on we had). So despite this being yet another extra console peripheral–putting the cherry on top of the Rock Band sundae that we call our living room–it should fit under a couch with ease. [cheapassgamer]
Organic transistors are appealing for their cheap manufacture and flexible materials. But often when cooling, misaligned molecules trap electrons that destroy the chips’ bandwidth. A new breakthrough in organic, pentacene transistors has found that when these chips are left to sit in a vacuum, the material “self heals” at room temperature, realigning the structure properly.
Epcot’s SpaceShip Earth ride was a little dated, so it’s been undergoing a major overhaul. And according to Distant Creations blog, a certain Apple celebrity will be making an appearance. Tinkering on a computer in his garage, the bearded “Jesus version” Jobs will be creating an early prototype Apple computer…alone.
Tis the season to build repurpose crazy electrical contraptions for a little merriment. From Peter Terren, the same crazy Aussie who brought you hits like the Tesla “Eye of Sauron Anti-Theft Device” has now transfigured Tesla coils to a festive Christmas tree shape. The trick was pulled off by building a frame (held together with wire and fishing line) around a standard Tesla coil to shape the spark pattern. Colour was added after through simple colour filter projection. So no, no one has invented fabled green electricity. Hit the jump for two more astonishing pics.
