AMSTERDAM ? In a story Jan. 20 about chemical weapons in Libya, The Associated Press, relying on incorrect information provided by a spokesman for the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, erroneously reported that artillery shells inspected by the organization in Libya were not loaded with chemical agent. The shells were loaded.
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There's good news and less-good news about AMD's new A8-3870K Accelerated Processing Unit (or APU). The good news is that it surpasses its predecessor, the A8-3850, in every way (if only slightly),
and provides overclocking features and performance potential beyond what you may think you can expect from a chip with a $135 (list) price?whether from AMD or Intel. But for all the strides AMD has made since it released the previous APU this past summer, the A8-3870K still can't replace a solid CPU?discrete video card combo for even quasi-serious gamers. But it shows that AMD is taking its Fusion product seriously, and thus hints at more good things to come.
Like the A8-3850, the A8-3870K is based on a 32nm production process and contains four CPU cores and a DirectX 11 (DX11)?supporting Radeon HD 6550D GPU with 400 GPU cores (in roughly the middle budget range of AMD's video products, judging by the previous generation's naming scheme). There's 128KB of L1 cache and 1MB of L2 cache available per core, and the APU supports dual-channel DDR3 memory at speeds of up to 1,866MHz. The A8-3870K of course also requires a motherboard that uses the (relatively) new FM1 socket, based on either AMD's A75 (with enhanced USB 3.0 and SATA III support) or A55 (USB 2.0 and SATA II) chipsets.
One important reminder about the graphics system on the APU: If you have a discrete video card installed, the APU will by default function as the boot-up video adapter, meaning any displays connected to a video card won't work until Windows loads the proper video drivers. This can be annoying if you only have one display, but you can toggle this "feature" in the motherboard's BIOS or UEFI settings. Second, the APU lets you access AMD's new Dual Graphics technology to "combine" the power of a discrete GPU with the integrated graphics; but this only works if both your hardware (the video card must be relatively low-end, and if you're only using one DIMM of memory, the whole thing might not work) and software (you'll need the AMD Vision Engine Control Center running) is correctly configured. Make sure your PC meets all the requirements before trying it out.
The biggest difference between the A8-3850 and the A8-3870K is in terms of the clocks. The CPU core on the newer chip has been bumped up from 2.9GHz to 3GHz, though the GPU clock remains unchanged at 600MHz?but both are now unlocked. This means you may overclock them to your heart's (and your PC's thermal) content, independently of each other, to get as much new performance as you can muster. It's also one of the first genuinely compelling reasons we've seen for enthusiasts (or just wannabes) to consider an APU that, by the broader standards of AMD's product line, is not an exceptional performer.
As we said when we reviewed the A8-3850 last year, Intel doesn't have any products that directly compare with AMD's new APUs in terms of overall capabilities. But if you care about raw processing more than graphics, an Intel platform based on chips like the lower-end Core i3-2100 or the considerably more powerful Core i5-2500K will serve you better. At its stock clock speeds, the A8-3870K represents only a tiny increase over the A8-3850; its multicore CineBench R11.5 score rose from 3.46 to 3.55, it took only six seconds less (5 minutes 12 seconds versus 5 minutes 18 seconds) to apply 12 filters in Adobe Photoshop CS5, cryptography throughput in TrueCrypt 7.0 raised from 106MBps to 109MBps, and its score in our full-system Futuremark PCMark 7 benchmark was functionally unchanged.
Video tests showed similarly small increases, with scores rising from 1,024 to 1,026 in 3DMark 11, frame rates increasing from 6.3 frames per second (fps) to 6.4fps in Lost Planet 2, and frame rates not improving at all in the Heaven Benchmark 2.5 (it remained at 5.5fps both times). These were all at basic resolutions, by the way?the Performance (1,280 by 720) preset for 3DMark 11, and 1,280 by 1,024 for the other two?though we maxed up all the details. By reducing the titles' resolutions or turning down the visual effects, you'll be able to get something much closer to playable frame rates, but you'll be making quite a few sacrifices.
This is where the overclocking comes in, right? Theoretically. We're happy to report that overclocking (when the APU was installed in the Gigabyte GA-A75-UD4H motherboard) was a breeze, and being able to separately focus on the CPU and GPU was an enormous frustration reducer. We had very little trouble nudging the GPU clock up from 600MHz to 900MHz and the CPU clock from 3GHz to 3.5GHz, using just a basic air cooler?and AMD tells us that, with more aggressive cooling and fine tuning of voltages, a combo rate of 960MHz/3.8GHz is possible. The A8-3870K offers you a lot of leeway.
But is it worth it? That depends on your point of view. The 3DMark 11 score rose from 1,026 to 1,244, CineBench from 0.90 to 1.04, the Heaven Benchmark from 5.5fps to 6.4fps, Lost Planet 2 from 6.4fps to 7.5fps, PCMark 11 from 2,509 to 2,691, Photoshop times down from 5:12 to 4:36, and TrueCrypt throughput up from 109MBps to 119MBps. (Predictably, load power rose as well, from 134.6 watts to 142.3 watts.) These aren't poor jumps by any stretch of the imagination. But except for those who might be really excited to overclock with such an inexpensive chip, we're not sure they're dazzling enough to set many hearts racing.
Still, the AMD A8-3870K is a fascinating part that shows how serious AMD continues to take the mainstream processor race. Our conclusion with this APU remains the same as with the A8-3850: Though you'll want a standalone video card for any real gaming purposes, AMD's blending of processing and video performance delivers a balance you just can't get from Intel right now. This may change when Intel ships its Ivy Bridge CPUs, which will support advanced DX11 graphics rather than Sandy Bridge's DX10, in a few months. But for now, AMD's Fusion approach is generating the most comforting heat in the midrange market.
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/2pbnTN29974/0,2817,2398957,00.asp
Writer/co-director Gavin O?Connor?s ?Warrior? opens with an emotionally bruising scene that not only sets the tone of this intensely moving story but beautifully uses silence and what remains unspoken to communicate a gulf so wide between an estranged father and son that it seems impossible to bridge. Dad is Paddy Conlon (Nick Nolte), a bear of a man who traded in the drink for the forgiveness of Jesus Christ. Today, alone in his beat up, working class house, his only companion is the terrible cost abusive alcoholics pay for their sobriety, the memories of the physical and mental abuse inflicted on a family eventually lost.
The son is Tommy Conlon (Tom Hardy), a former Marine just home from Iraq, who didn?t drop by after fourteen years to see how dear dad was doing,. He?s here to hurt the old man in every way possible without laying a hand on him. Tommy expected to find a drunk, and Paddy?s sobriety only angers him more. Dad doesn?t deserve forgiveness, Christ?s or anyone else?s. Tommy is a seething young man made dysfunctional by the baggage he carries around like the bulk of his muscle ? an unreachable force of anger and bitter resentment that extends to his older brother Brendan, as well.
Brendan didn?t run away from his father like Tommy and his mother. He was older, had a girlfriend, and had already planted the seeds of a life. Eventually, he married that girl, went to college, became a teacher, had kids, and bought a house. Though they?re very different in so many ways, Tommy and Brendan do at least have one thing in common. No matter how many days sober, they will never forgive their father.
Paddy is a former martial-arts trainer, and this experience is the only thing these three still have in common. For reasons I won?t spoil, Tommy needs to make some quick cash, and that means getting back into the octagon and the competitive world of mixed-martial arts. The same goes for Brendan (a former UFC contender) who refuses to accept charity or file a bankruptcy to save his family from financial ruin. ?I don?t do things that way,? he tells a banker, and though he?s a little long in the tooth, into the octagon he goes looking for whatever prize money he can scrape up.
A number of those matches occur in sleazy strip bars, something the school administration doesn?t look kindly on. This leaves Brendan no choice but to fight full-time, and a winner-take-all $5 million championship is something that catches the eye of both brothers. Because Tommy asked Paddy to train him, this means that all three men will fight for more than prize money. The conflict they?ve been running ?from is now inevitable, and the fight will be between their shared demons for a resolution to the pain they?ve shared and inflicted on one another.
?Warrior? is one of the best films of the decade and one of the most moving stories I?ve seen in years. O?Connor directs a brilliant performance out of all three of his leads and never allows melodrama to rear its head. Nolte?s performance is especially impressive. We?re meeting a genuinely good man living with unimaginable regret, a Dr. Jekyll burdened by his monstrous behavior towards his wife and sons as Dr. Hyde. Everything comes from Nolte?s haunted eyes. This is the most restrained performance of his career and most certainly an Oscar-caliber performance.
?Warrior? is also a rare opportunity these days to see men act like men on the big screen. These are men doing what a man?s gotta do to right wrongs and meet their responsibilities. These are men of action, not talk, men with pride and honor and a sense of duty. They?re not perfect men, far from it, but they?re striving to be good men the only way they know how. This is also the rare Hollywood picture that treats the working class, our military, and the Christian faith with respect.
This is a film about big things, and I don?t mean the brutal world of mixed martial-arts. Like the very best sports films, the sport itself is nothing more than a vehicle to explore characters, their relationships, and a theme. ?Warrior?s? theme is the most powerful element of the film, a living, breathing thing that grabs hold of your insides and tightens its hold as the story passes by. It?s not about who wins the tournament or even if Brendan can keep his house.
It?s about forgiveness.
?Warrior? is available at Amazon.com.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BigHollywood/~3/EPtGCBEKdNc/
Andy Clark/Reuters/Landov Oil storage tanks at the Chevron Burnaby Oil Refinery on the shores of Burrard Inlet, east of Vancouver, British Columbia.
President Obama is feeling election-year pressure over the pending decision on the Keystone XL pipeline. Republicans say the Canadian project would provide the U.S. with oil and new jobs, but environmentalists want Obama to block it. They say Alberta's oil sands generate more greenhouse gases than other kinds of oil, and Americans must not become dependent on such a dirty source of energy. But it may already be too late to change that.
Tucked in among the ranch houses in Burnaby, British Columbia, a quiet suburb east of Vancouver, is the terminal for the Trans Mountain Pipeline, which brings in oil from Alberta. For decades, that oil was mainly consumed in the Vancouver region. But that is changing.
Ben West, an anti-oil tanker activist with a group called the Wilderness Committee, says when the pipeline company Kinder Morgan bought this facility in 2005, it shifted its focus to exports ? primarily to the American West Coast.
"We've seen this huge increase of tanker traffic," he says. "We went from 22 tankers in 2005, up to 79 [in 2010]. You know these 700,000-barrel tankers that are now coming through the Burrard Inlet, which passes through one of the most populated areas of British Columbia."
The pipeline also has a branch that crosses the border, feeding crude oil to refineries in Washington state. Kinder Morgan is now exploring the possibility of doubling the pipeline's capacity. West calls it the "quiet repurposing" of the Trans Mountain Pipeline. And because of it, oil sands gasoline is now fueling cars from Seattle to San Francisco.
Philip Verleger, an economist who specializes in oil markets, says even if environmentalists convince Obama to block the Keystone XL pipeline, it won't stop the growth of production in the Canadian oil sands.
"With prices around a hundred dollars a barrel globally, that oil is going to make it to the market somehow," Verleger says. "The development may be slowed for a year or two. But one can move the oil west on the existing Kinder Morgan pipeline. They could expand pipelines east. Those pipelines already exist, and they can be expanded."
In fact, Enbridge, a Canadian energy company, recently asked Canadian regulators for permission to reverse the direction of one of its pipelines in Ontario, which many see as the first step to move more Canadian oil to the American East Coast ? and relieve some of the Canadian oil glut in the upper Midwest.
Back in Burnaby, activist West is well aware of the spider's web of pipelines exporting oil from Alberta, but that doesn't make him any less opposed to the Keystone XL.
"I think it's true that the Keystone pipeline is not the only way that the oil is making its way to market, and there's definitely enough demand that if one of these gets built, people will want to build the other ones," West says. "But, you know, we really need to turn that around."
But demand is the key, say most economists. If you can get American drivers to buy less gas ? by raising fuel efficiency standards, as the Obama administration recently did ? then, they say, you stand a much better chance of slowing production in the oil sands.
Source: http://www.npr.org/2012/01/18/145347485/blocking-keystone-wont-stop-oil-sands-production?ft=1&f=1007
Wikimedia
Screenshot of Wikipedia Mobile for iOS devices
By Athima Chansanchai
Those wondering how to get around the Wikipedia SOPA blackout can breathe a little easier:?the crowd-sourced encyclopedia?is still available through mobile versions, disabling Javascript or translating another language's version of it.
So really folks, there's no need to panic. You?can still look up every little curiosity that crosses your mind if you try to following options (it helps if you have a smartphone or tablet):
Some people, though, have become even more creative in the wake of the one day that people can't seem to live without Wikipedia. Just look at former "Jeopardy" champ and human encyclopedia?@KenJennings?and what he is willing to do to help people out:
Ok, ok, maybe that's not the way to go, but you've got to applaud the guy for some effort, right?
Did it annoy you that Wikipedia was harder to get to today?
173694
YES. What the heck does SOPA have to do with my insatiable need to know?
19%
173695
NO. I understand why they're protesting, and I can find alternatives for a day.
81%
VoteTotal Votes: 1334
You can also turn to Twitter for help. The Guardian?says it'll try to answer questions posted with the #altwiki hashtag, conscripting journalists from the Washington Post and National Public Radio to help, too. The Guardian is going?old school as well via Guardipedia, with?editor Patrick Kingsley using Encyclopaedia Britannica and Who's Who to help folks who long ago ditched their volumes (or never had them).
Of course, you can go the old school route too, locally, and call your public library for help. Librarians are amazing resources and I'm sure they'd be glad to be of service since sites like Wikipedia have largely eliminated the questions that used to go their way.
(Msnbc.com is a joint venture of Microsoft and Comcast/NBC Universal. Microsoft publicly opposes SOPA in its current form, while?Comcast/NBC Universal is listed as a supporter of SOPA?on the House Judiciary Committee website.)
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More SOPA protest/blackout stories:
Check out Technolog on?Facebook, and on Twitter, follow?Athima Chansanchai, who is also trying to keep her head above water in the?Google+?stream.
Rick Perry is going to withdraw from the GOP race today, which signals another blow to Mitt Romney and a boost for Newt Gingrich, reports CNBC's John Harwood.
Related Links:
Business & financial news headlines from msnbc.com
Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/46056092/
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