During the heyday of optical storage we saw a 400GB Blu-Ray flavor (shown above) and even 1TB discs in the lab, but lately such development has waned. Sony and Panasonic have teamed up to move things along, however, saying there's a need for reliable long-term storage that only optical disks can provide. The pair will develop a "next-generation standard for professional-use optical discs," saying that a 300GB flavor could be ready in two years or so. Though geared towards industries like cloud storage and digital cinema at first, the tech could eventually trickle down to consumers, too. Given rapid developments in on-demand streaming and cloud gaming, however, there might be nothing left for us plebes to archive by then.
Filed under: Storage, Sony
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Via: The Verge
Source: Sony
It was always rumored that the next iPhone, probably called the iPhone 5S, will have some sort of biometric security features. It seems that we have our first confirmation that the feature actually exists in the next iPhone thanks to some references in the latest iOS 7 beta 4 that was released a couple of hours ago. Spotted by 9to5Mac, the UI suggests that the next iPhones home button will also house a fingerprint scanner. A user will be able to use either hand and swipe the thumb over the home button for the scanner to scan the fingerprint.
MediaTek today announced the worlds first true octa-core processor in which all eight cores can work simultaneously. The MT8135 is based on ARMs big.LITTLE architecture and has four Cortex A7 cores and four Cortex A15 cores. Just like Samsungs Exynos 5 Octa SoC, the A7 cores are utilized for most low-intensity tasks while the A15 cores kick in for the heavy lifting. However, unlike Samsungs implementation where only one set of four cores (A7 or A15) can be active at any given point of time, MediaTek has implemented what it calls heterogeneous processing where applications will have access to run all eight cores simultaneously, claiming the MT8135 to be the worlds first true octa-core processor.
It looks nearly the same as it did in 2007, but Spot's outdoor beacon has evolved quite nicely on the inside. Now in its third incarnation, the Spot Gen3 is designed to help wandering argonauts keep their loved ones informed of their location for an even longer period of time. Engineered to be worn by those intentionally heading off of the conventional grid, the Spot Gen3 adds unlimited tracking (enabling wearers to pre-set the device to send tracks every 5, 10, 30 or 60 minutes), motion activated tracking and longer battery life. According to the company, this guy will last nearly twice as long as prior versions, and you can also power it via battery or USB. The downside, of course, is that you'll need to pay $149.95 for the unit itself, along with a required annual subscription plan that starts at $149.99 per year. No one ever said adventuring was a poor man's sport, eh?
