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Another neat piece of kit from NAB comes courtesy of Vision Research and their new Phantom Flex camera. It sports a nice CMOS sensor capable of 12-bit color depth and 4k images, but what distinguishes it from the competition is the unreal frame rates previously reserved for analog film:
At maximum resolution the camera can capture up to 1,560 frames per second, and up to 2,800 when stepped down to HD res, though an HQ mode is also available which boosts image quality but reduces frame rates to 780 and 1390 FPS respectively. And if you were to take the resolution all the way down to 640×480, you’d be able to record at 6,300 FPS to capture every last particle of that apple you just shot.
Also, the camera can be boosted up to 1,000 ISO to work in low-light situations, and is compatible with 35mm, 16mm, and 2/3″ lenses from all the major players. No word on pricing, but rest assured it’s out of the means of mortal men.
via OhGizmo! » Archive » Phantom Flex Can Capture 1920×1080 HD At 2,800 FPS.
Hardware camera, nab, vision research
Tax day is rapidly approaching, and companies like Intuit and H&R Block are undoubtedly deep in paperwork (and profits) filling out forms for mom and pop, as well as Microsoft’s & AIG’s. A new infographic from Intuit, the creators of TurboTax, shows the Income Taxes by State (in millions), as well as Corporate taxes by state. They include numbers for the detail-oriented (yay!), but just the graphs are interesting.
A word of warning, don’t be fooled by the “grey” states, those are states without any State Taxes. Given how they’ve already split the US into sections (southeast, midwest, etc), I’m somewhat surprised they didn’t just leave those states out. I guess completeness reigns.
See the full-size graphic below.
Income and Corporate Taxes By State | The TurboTax Blog.
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Graphics infographic, intuit, tax
A friend tipped me off to this interesting tidbit on the new Apple MacBook Pro features page. Read it closely (bold added for emphasis):
The 15- and 17-inch MacBook Pro models come standard with automatic graphics switching. It’s a breakthrough technology from Apple that switches graphics processors on the fly to give you performance when you need it (when you’re playing the latest 3D game, for example) and better battery efficiency when you don’t (such as when you’re reading email). MacBook Pro transfers the workload between the powerful discrete NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M graphics processor and integrated Intel HD Graphics so seamlessly, you won’t even notice.
Now, what they’re describing is the NVidia Optimus technology that enables this switching, but Apple is claiming they developed it themselves. Nowhere on the page does the word “Optimus” even appear (not even in the footnotes). Has Apple really re-invented the Optimus technology internally, or are they not giving NVidia the credit they are due?
You be the judge. Find a complete copy of the page after the break (In case Apple changes it).
Update 1pm: I just heard from people inside NVidia that Apple is not using NVidia’s Optimus technology in these laptops, but rather has built their own custom solution. Few details exists right now about it, but I’m very curious to know how it stacks up against the new ASUS laptops performance-wise.
via Apple – MacBook Pro – Performance – Even faster processors and graphics..
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Hardware apple, feature, nvidia
We have posted rumors about the yields for the GTX480 and GTX470 in the past. One rumor was that the GF100 yields are below 50% at TSMC. This is an improvement over the 2% yields reported last year. 50% yields are in line with what was reported for ATI last year.
Nvidia recently held the Nvidia Game Festival (NGF) in Shanghai, China. This festival was to promote the launch of its GeForce GTX 480 and 470 graphics cards. Digitimes is reporting that NVidia is happy with the yields that they are getting. Of course, they do not say what those yields actually are.
Commenting on recent market rumors the Nvidia’s GTX 480 and 470 GPU yields are only about 20%, Drew Henry, Nvidia general manager of MCP business, refuted the rumors saying yields have met company expectations.
via Nvidia holds gaming festival in China to promote GeForce GTX480/470.
Hardware fermi, geforce, gf100, gtx470, gtx480, nvidia
Tiger Woods showed up to play at the Masters in Augusts, still dealing with his recent public infidelity and marriage problems. Cleverly, he didn’t announce his intent to play until after all of the advertising had been sold, allowing customers to buy ad spots at historically low rates. His believed pass of the tournament drove ticket prices down, advertising revenues down, and viewership down. However, once he appeared, this all quickly reversed.
Mint has a new infographic showing the impact of his sudden change of heart on the tournament. See full-resolution after the break.
The Tiger Woods Economy | MintLife Blog | Personal Finance News & Advice.
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Graphics infographic, mint, sports
[H]ard|OCP is back with a performance review of the ATI Radeon HD 5870 Eyefinity6 graphics card. As we described earlier, this card is no different than the regular AMD Radeon HD 5870 with the exception of its having 6 mini-DisplayPorts, and 2 GB of memory. Does having 2 GB of memory help the performance? What does [H]ard|OCP think of the new card?
It boils down to this, when the video cards are not so GPU limited, in the case of multi-GPU CrossFireX, we are able to utilize the frame buffer more. We can crank up more settings, enable higher AA settings if the frame buffer space is there for it. With single-GPU video cards running a high resolution like 5760×1200 we are pushing the limits of the GPUs and not really taxing the frame buffer as much. So, it comes down to the fact that CrossFireX is going to benefit more from a 2GB frame buffer per GPU than single-GPU video cards are at high Eyefinity resolutions.
via ATI Radeon HD 5870 Eyefinity 6 Performance Review @ [H]ard|OCP.
Hardware amd, ati, eyefinity
Those of you interested in Virtual Worlds will definitely want to check out the Federal Consortium For Virtual Worlds (FCVW) conference coming up. The conference will be at the National Defense University, but (of course, given the content) most of it will be available in various online means. They already have Facebook Groups, Twitter Feeds, and various Virtual World links setup and ready to go.
They have a great collection of speakers too:
Hit their website for all the details..
The Federal Consortium for Virtual Worlds.
Science conference, virtual worlds
Robin Richards has posted a new infographic taking the Android robot and creating new characters out of them. To me, the poster has a Lego character quality. Personally, I love the R2D2 version, as well as Mr. T. I do not think that it works too well for Pamela Anderson. I would enjoy seeing more of the characters based on Star Wars.
Let me know what is your favorite, or maybe you have a request for a figure of someone – email, tweet me anyway welcome.
via ripetungi.
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Graphics infographic
Apple quietly took down their online store this morning, well as quietly as Apple can do anything with the intense scrutiny they find themselves under, and when it came back we were blessed with new MacBook Pros sporting the new Core i5 and Core i7 processors.
“The new MacBook Pro is as advanced on the inside as it is stunning on the outside,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “With faster processors, amazing graphics and up to three more hours of battery life, the new MacBook Pro delivers both performance and efficiency.”
What I find most exciting is that the new Macbook Pros include NVidia Optimus technology Switchable Graphics, switching between integrated graphics and the NVidia GeForce GT330M (256M or 512M RAM). The Optimus technology is only available in the 15″ and 17″ models, but it’s still a very welcome addition to the lineup.
Update 1pm: I just received new information from NVidia that this is not Optimus technology, but rather an Apple-built custom solution. Read more information here.
via DailyTech – Apple Announces New Core i5, Core i7 MacBook Pros.
Hardware apple, laptop, nvidia, optimus
Stores like WalMart, Best Buy, and Target pepper the nations landscape, but just how many of them are there? Milo has a new infographic that plots these three stores across the US, computing the # of locations per million residents.
Not surprising to see states like Mississippi with 22 Wal-marts per Million residents, but I was a bit surprised to see states like New York with only 4.7. Is that because there are so few stores, or perhaps because the population is so dense?
Take a look for yourself after the break.
The Daily Bark » Where are the Nation’s Box Stores?.
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Graphics infographic, milo
VizWorld.com 
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