Downloadsquad takes the four major browsers for the windows platform and compares them against one another in HTML5. It turns out that IE9 and Firefox 3.7 both use Direct2D to utilize the GPU’s rendering power. That makes them the best choices for HTML5.
via : 4-way HTML5 speed test: Firefox 3.7 faster than Internet Explorer 9
We begin with a composite image of the nearby starburst galaxy M82 that contains X-rays from Chandra in blue, optical data from Hubble in green and orange, and infrared data from Spitzer in red. Next we zoom into the central region of M82, where just Chandra’s view is visible. There we see two bright X-ray sources of special interest. Astronomers think these may be medium-sized black holes. These “survivor” black holes seem to have avoided falling into the center of the galaxy. They could also be examples of seeds required for the growth of supermassive black holes in all galaxies, including the one in the Milky Way.
credit: Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
via : M82 in 60 Seconds
via : Chandra: A Tour of M82 @ YouTube
Over at the NVidia Forums, they’ve published some impressive benchmarking results of the new-ish Telsa C2050 Fermi-driven board running various CUDA, CULA, and HPC simulation codes. They compare the results to the previous generation Tesla cards, as well as the newest Intel CPU’s. The results are impressive. Just check out these graphs:
Be sure to check out the full PDF on their website (forum registration required, unless of course someone hosts it else where and posts the link in the comments…)
If you have been thinking about buying a NVidia 3D Vision Glasses Kit, now you can get it even cheaper. Retailers such as NewEgg, TigerDirect, and NCIX.com are selling the kit for $25 off. Both NewEgg and TigerDirect are selling the kit for $175. In the kit you will find the 3-D stereo shutter glasses, the IR emitter, and a free avatar game download. Of course, you will also need to make sure you have a 120 Hz LCD monitor. Remember, you can use this to watch NASCAR in 3D on July 3rd, 2010. As always, the disclaimer is :
This offer is available through August 3, 2010 or while supplies last.
The latest satellite imagery from June 11, 2010 shows that the tropical portion of the Pacific Ocean has started cooling down over the past few months. This may be the beginning of a transition from El Niño, to La Niña.
El Niño is a warming of the waters in the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean. El Niño is said to occur when the waters are 0.5 °C warmer than average. La Niña is its opposite, and is when the waters in the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean become cooler by an average of 0.5 °C. The El Niño/La Niña-Southern Oscillation is important because it affects weather in many parts of the world. From NASA’s Image of the Day article:
The blue area in the center of the image depicts the recent appearance of cold water hugging the equator, which the satellite measures as a region of lower-than-normal sea level. (Water contracts slightly when it cools and expands when it warms.) Remnants of the El Niño warm water pool, shown here in red and yellow, still linger in pockets to the north and south of the equator in the center of the image.
The image shows sea surface height relative to normal ocean conditions for this time of year. Red (warmer) areas are about 10 centimeters (4 inches) above normal. Green areas indicate near-normal conditions. Purple (cooler) areas are 14 to 18 centimeters (6 to 7 inches) below normal. Blue areas are 5 to 13 centimeters (2 to 5 inches) below normal
At the 59th annual Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, Nissan was to unveil the 2011 Infiniti M concept. However, the car wasn’t ready? Rather than admit defeat or resort to renderings and “death by powerpoint”, instead they reached out to RTT and the Klip Collective to create a visually stunning presentation.
The result was a simple block of styrofoam presented on stage, cut out to the exact dimensions of the proposed car. Then, five synchronized projectors displayed the image of the car and the environment on it in a photorealistic way, to create the illusion of the car not only being on-stage, but arising from various environmental aspects and then driving.
See the video of the unveiling above, and read more in this press release.
Update 8/11/10: Spelling Correction.
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