February 1st, Microsoft will launch Kinect for Windows hardware and accompanying version 1 software. It will be available in limited quantities in United States, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain, and United Kingdom. Microsoft has plans to release a cheaper academic version later on this year. In addition to support for Windows 7 and the Windows 8 developer preview (desktop apps only), Kinect for Windows will also support gesture and voice on Windows Embedded-based devices and will enhance how data is captured and accessed within intelligent systems across manufacturing, retail and many more industries. Microsoft has optimized Kinect for Xbox 360 hardware components and made firmware adjustments which better enable PC-centric scenarios. Read more here - http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/kinectforwindows/
Future smartphones and tablet computers can leverage the enhanced performance of the new Mali-T658 GPU designed by ARM. Up to ten times faster than its predecessor, the new GPU is aimed at boosting mobile graphics and increasing ARM's market share in mobile graphics. We have to wait about 2 years to experience the benefits of the new design as ARM says that its next generation GPU may start appearing in devices towards the end of 2013, however, the competition among the GPU designers is helping drive computing power to new heights. The Mali-T658 has a maximum of eight cores, with each core offering double the arithmetic capability of its predecessor and capable of adjusting its performance according to the demand, making it energy efficient. Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15668347
Microsoft released beta 2 of Kinect for Windows SDK v1.0 which includes drivers, rich APIs for raw sensor streams and human tracking, documentation and resource materials. With Kinect for Windows SDK developers can create rich experiences by using the sensor technology on computers running Windows 7 or Windows 8. Kinect is a motion sensing input device for the Xbox 360 video game console. Kinect builds on software technology developed by a subsidiary of Microsoft Game Studios owned by Microsoft, and on range camera technology by Israeli developer PrimeSense, which developed a system that can interpret specific gestures, making completely hands-free control of electronic devices possible by using an infrared projector and camera and a special microchip to track the movement of objects and individuals in three dimension. - From Wikipedia Download Kinect for Windows SDK v1.0 Beta 2 here: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=27876
Virginia Tech's Corporate Research Center is in the final stages of testing an energy-efficient supercomputer called HokieSpeed. It is pictured as the next war horse for research and its 455 trillion operations per second capability will surely makes it the next generation tool for researches! HokieSpeed supercomputer is made up of 209 separate computers connected together in a large server room. Virginia Tech's Corporate Research Center previous supercomputer known as X took three times the rack space. Each computer is powered by two 2.40-gigahertz Intel Xeon 6-core central processing units and two NVIDIA GPUs, which reside on a Supermicro motherboard. That gives HokieSpeed more than 2,500 central processing unit cores and more than 185,000 graphics processor unit cores to compute with. Read the full press release here: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-12/vt-vtw122111.php
The semiconductor giant Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) has launched the world's fastest single-GPU Graphics card, featuring exceptional performance improvement and enables new levels of gaming and compute capabilities. The AMD Radeon HD 7970's processor is the only GPU based on 28nm production technology. AMD's Eyefinity technology together with AMD's App Acceleration, PCI Express 3 support, better power management, and AMD's CrossFire technology makes this graphics card the top item in every gamer's wish list for this year! AMD's Eyefinity technology enables gamers and desktop enthusiasts to connect up to six displays to one graphics card! Read the full press release here: http://www.amd.com/us/press-releases/Pages/amd-launches-worlds-fastest-2011dec22.aspx