GeekwithEnvy

Richard Vincenti Jr

Hot Flash? It could be the Future of Memory

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We are beginning to realize the power of flash memory. Flash memory is fast, efficient, compact, and now it’s becoming more affordable than it has ever been before, but it has a few limitations that we need to get past if we are going to continue to use it for our primary data storage solution.

One of the major issues with flash memory is it’s relatively short lifespan. A typical flash device can only handle, at best, 1 million cycles before it begins to stop functioning correctly. Microchip

This is a big problem especially if you are depending solely on flash memory to hold your data. Even if you don’t completely rely on flash you still want to maximize the lifespan of anything you buy. Fortunately, there is progress being made as we speak on this very problem.

Engineers at the Taiwan based company Macronix, have found that applying extreme heat to memory cells within NAND flash devices can bring previously unusable cells back to life. Temperatures used are around 800˚C  (1472˚F) and could be applied in short bursts to “jolt” the life back into the cells. Current efforts have seen the flash cells surpass 100 million cycles! The engineers at Macronix are hoping to show off this “self-healing” flash memory at the next IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM), but it’s going to be some time before consumers will be able to get their hands on this new technology.

 

More information on this can be found here.

Big NASA Discovery On Mars? Not So Much

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About a week ago we received news that NASA was possibly on the brink of a major discovery, in fact it was mentioned that it could be for the “History Books”. Well, unfortunately it doesn’t seem like were going to get that kind of news from Mars anytime soon.

This discovery that apparently never happened is being described as a “big misunderstanding”. Here is the original report that I read from NPR. Planet Mars Viewed From Space

“Grotzinger says they recently put a soil sample in SAM, and the analysis shows something remarkable. “This data is gonna be one for the history books. It’s looking really good.”

“Grotzinger can see the pained look on my face as I wait, hoping he’ll tell me what the heck he’s found, but he’s not providing any more information.”

This was from an interview between science correspondent Joe Palca and scientist John Grotzinger. Apparently, what were being told now is that John meant to say that the mission in it’s entirety is historical and that in the next couple of years we expect to make great discoveries.

Something sound a bit strange here? This was big news that made it’s way quickly around the world and that means NASA had to have heard it too. The big question here is if NASA did hear this report earlier then why didn’t they try to correct this earlier?

They were still sampling soil at the time of the interview and were anxiously waiting for results, but apparently they weren’t “History Worthy”. Either way you look at this, it’s still a bit of let down. I guess we will just have to keep our hopes up for future discoveries on Mars.

Product Review: Samsung Galaxy Rush

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There a are thousands of different smart phones available out there but if you’re looking to avoid a longterm contract but don’t want to spend hundreds of dollars on a phone, that list starts to shrink. What makes the situation even worse is that the quality of phones that you end up with can be absolutely terrible. There is one phone however that seems to stand out from the rest and that’s the Samsung Galaxy Rush.

Samsung GalaxyRush Front View
Samsung GalaxyRush Front View (Credit:Samsung)

 

Design:

When this phone first arrived I was overall very impressed, it doesn’t feel like a toy. The Samsung Galaxy Rush is, as you would expect from the name, built a lot like the Samsung Galaxy S. There are the familiar navigation buttons on the bottom for Menu, Home, and Back. The only button not included in the phone’s navigation area is the search button. There is a power/lock button on the top right with a 3.5mm headphone jack on the top left. On the left side of the device there is a volume control button and a slot for a MicroSD card. I was happy to see that the MicroSD card slot wasn’t hidden inside the phone somewhere next to the battery. On the bottom left of the device is a microphone and in the center is charger/accessory jack. The right side of the phone has a camera button.

The back of the Rush has a 3MP camera with flash that also records video. The camera lens is positioned right next to the external speaker. The back cover is made of plastic but it seems pretty durable and it doesn’t pick up fingerprints, which is a bit of a pet peeve of mine. The front of the device has a front facing 1.3 MP camera, LED indicator, the earlier mentioned navigation keys and a 3.5″ touchscreen.

 

GalaxyRush2

Samsung GalaxyRush Side View
Samsung GalaxyRush Side View (Credit:Samsung)

Power/Memory:

This phone isn’t blazingly fast like many of the other high-end smartphones out there but it gets the job done with it’s 1GHz processor ( MSM8655, Qualcomm). This phone also features 2GB ROM/768MB RAM and supports a maximum MicroSD capacity of 32GB.

Display/Touch Interface:

The display is low resolution at just 320×240 pixels but it’s actually not that bad especially for the price point. The Samsung Galaxy Rush uses HVGA TFT as it’s main display technology. The touch screen does offer multi-touch capability and it works really well, typing on this phone wasn’t bad and you can use the on-screen keyboard in both vertical and horizontal mode.

 

OS Performance:

The Samsung Galaxy Rush comes with Android 4.0 and with it’s single core processor it actually move along quite well. The UI operates smoothly and web browsing isn’t half bad either. You can game on this phone without too many major issues, Angry birds will play just fine. If you’re used to higher-end phones you will notice the speed difference especially when upgrading, installing  and loading applications but for a budget phone this kills off most of the competition.

Battery Life / Other Features:

This phone operates off a 3.7 Volt, Lithium Ion, 1750mAh battery that promises to keep you up and running for 9 hours while in use, and up to 14 hours on standby. This phone also has many features that are considered standard for any smartphone including, Stereo Bluetooth capability, GPS, Wi-Fi, and an Accelerometer.

The Price and Verdict:

This phone ranges anywhere from $99 to $150 and operates on the Sprint network via Boost Mobile. Keep in mind that this phone can be bought and used without a contract and monthly bill should be very low. Upon closer inspection you can easily see where they went cheap in the design process but it’s nothing that’s detrimental to the phone overall. For the cost of the phone, I was quite surprised by it’s performance and responsiveness. Audio quality is good on the ear speaker but the outside loudspeaker isn’t very good, although it does get extremely loud (good for an alarm clock). The real winning feature of this phone is the fact that it runs Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and it does so with minimal lag. The bottom line is, if you’re in the market for a budget phone, don’t want a contract, and just want something that resembles a halfway decent smart phone, then this phone is a good buy.

 

 

 

 

iTunes 11 Has Finally Arrived

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Yes, Apple has officially released iTunes 11, which I must say is the biggest change to iTunes in sometime. My first impression of the new iTunes is a bit of a surprise, Apple has done a really nice job with this release. Of course with all things that are new, it will take a while for us to truly evaluate the new and improved iTunes, but so far things are looking pretty impressive.

So what’s new? Well, quite a bit actually. iTunes has essentially been completely redesigned and you will notice these changes the moment you first launch the application.

iTunes 11 ScreenShot
(Credit: Apple)

Preview History:

iTunes 11 now features preview history, something that I greatly appreciate. I actually find that I will preview certain songs and then move on with out keeping track of them, then when I want to go back to the one I liked, I completely forget the song name. This new feature gets rid of the guessing game and it does so across all of your devices thanks to iCloud. The preview history is not just for music, it will also store any movies or TV shows you previewed as well.

Saving your place:

You can now pause any movie, podcast, TV show, iTunesU Lesson, or audiobook and pick up where you left off on any device.

New Mini Player:

Apple is all about mini these days and it’s no different when it comes to iTunes. The new mini player offers up a nice way for you to be able to gloss through your library by providing you with a mini version of it. You can also see what song is going to play next by clicking on the new “Up Next:”  button. The “Up Next:” feature is also available in the full size version of iTunes 11 and will also allow you to queue up music ahead of the song your currently listening to. This feature should come in handy when you’re in charge of the party music.

miniPlayeri11
The New mini Player in iTunes11 (Credit:Apple)

A Clean New Design:

Yeah, I know looks aren’t everything, especially when it comes to software. I use a ton of great apps that for lack of a better word look like, crap, but are extremely useful. iTunes 11, however, looks great. The new redesign is enough to make you feel uncomfortable at first, but once you settle in you quickly realize that things are where they need to be and that everything looks great. The interface just seems to get out of the way and it lets my content shine. This is also true of the iTunes Store which now features a very image rich experience.

iTunes Store Now Features a Gift Card Scanning Feature:

 

iTunesCardRedemption
New iTunes11 Card Redemption (Credit:GWE)

You can now just take a photo of your iTunes Store gift card to redeem it, which is actually a really nice little feature that I missed initially, thanks to MacRumors, who pointed this out.

 

Mists of Pandaria Patch 5.1 Live

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Mists of Pandaria patch 5.1 “Landfall”, is now live on all realms. The new patch is packed with updates including item level upgrades, Brawler’s Guild, Pet battle updates, new scenarios, class changes and much more.

Here is a quick rundown of what to expect: World of Warcraft_Mists of Pandaria Male Pandaren

Brawler’s Guild:

  • Entry into the brawler’s guild is by invitation only.  Invitations can be found on the black market auction house, by invitation from somebody within the guild, and occasionally as drops from certain Horde and Alliance NPCs.
  • You will be able to fight challenging bosses one-on-one in fighting rings for special achievements and awesome looking gear.

Two New Factions:

  • You can obtain special rewards and mounts with the two new factions introduced in 5.1, Operation: Shieldwall (Alliance) and Dominance Offensive (Horde).

All New Scenarios:

  • Krasarang Wilds and A Little Patience (Alliance)
  • Dagger in the Dark and Domination Point (Horde)

Pet Battles:

  • New Wild Pets to Capture
  • A more polished Pet Battle UI
  • New Pet Tamer with Daily Quests
  • A new item has been introduced that can be used to upgrade the quality of Battle Pets: Battle-stones.

Bug Fixes (Complete List)

  • The effect of PvP Power on healing will now appear correctly on the Character Sheet.
  • Swooping Plainshawks no longer use abilities from the Bird of Prey Hunter pet family.
  • Fixed an issue that could cause crops to fail to appear when players entered Sunsong Ranch while several hundred yards up in the air.
  • Players who have learned the Terrible Turnip pet can now continue to find Ominous Seeds when harvesting Cooking Ingredient crops.
  • Classes
    • The responsiveness of many abilities and effects has been improved, including: Renewing Mist, Halo, Rogue Poisons, Revealing Strike, Rime, Killing Machine, Maelstrom Weapon, Sudden Doom, Ultimatum, Scent of Blood, Crimson Scourge, and Sudden Death.
    • The following spells now display less intense visual effects for other players: Hellfire, Death and Decay, Hurricane, Astral Storm, and Explosive Trap.
    • Earthquake’s sound effect is now quieter.
    • All spells that cause Forebearance can no longer be applied simultaneously.
    • Hunters
      • The snare provided by Ice Trap is now more responsive when enemies enter or leave the area of effect, and its effective area more closely matches the visual effect.
      • Lock and Load will now activate correctly when Ice Trap is triggered by an immune target, as long as a susceptible target is within the area of effect.
      • Fixed several issues involving Trap Mastery, Entrapment, Glyph of Black ice, and Glyph of Ice Trap.
      • The Growl pet ability will no longer cause diminishing returns against bosses that are immune to its effect.
      • Glyph of Black Ice now correctly benefits from the increased duration provided by Trap Mastery.
      • Glyph of Ice Trap now causes the visual effect of Ice Trap to match the increased area of effect provided by the glyph.
    • Mages
      • Fixed an issue with Glyph of Icy Veins that could prevent all three bolts from firing.
      • Fixed an issue with Glyph of Icy Veins that could prevent the affected abilities from doing the correct damage.
    • Warlocks
      • The Felguard and Wrathguard pet ability, Threatening Presence, will no longer be auto-cast by default.
      • Pandemic no longer smooths the damage when extending dots with different amounts of spellpower.
    • Warriors
      • Execute damage with high amounts of Vengeance is now capped at the Warrior’s maximum health to prevent it from reaching excessive numbers.
    • Professions
      • Banquet of the Steamer and Great Banquet of the Steamer now correctly provide Intellect to damage based casting classes. Healers will continue to gain Spirit from these foods.

For complete patch notes please visit Blizzard’s official post.