I'm in the future. Like hundreds of years in the future. I've been dead for centuries. Oh, lovely, you're a cheery one aren't you?
Wednesday, July 29
Nexus Qi
So my Nexus 5 disintegrated. The material around the edge of the phone got scratched, probably from being stuffed into my pocket along with my headphones,* and then cracked and flaked off in bigger and bigger pieces, until finally the back started to detach and it couldn't find its SIM card any more and little bits of electronics started to fall out.
So I kind of needed a new phone.
I have a Sony Xperia Z Ultra, but that's too big; it lives in my notebook bag to serve as a mini tablet and 4G / Wifi hotspot. So it was back to my Nexus 4, which is made of solid glass all the way through and so is still pretty much as-new.
The only problem is that... Well, two problems. Three. One, it only has 16GB of storage, which is not enough. Two, it's a superfluid, like liquid helium, and will not just slide off a level surface to fall on the floor, but will slide uphill to do so.**
And three, the USB port is a bit fiddly, which means at some point it will suffer the fate of my original Nexus 7 and I won't be able to charge it any more.***
If only it had shipped with wireless charging, so I could just plop it down on this wireless charging pad that is no longer in use by my Nexus 5 and HEY!
The Nexus 4 supported Qi wireless charging? Did they, like, mention that to anyone?
* Sennheiser PX 100-II.
** Nexus 4 owners will know what I mean. The glass back makes it the slipperiest phone in existence. The edge is textured so you don't drop it, but when you put it down on any level surface it will swiftly migrate to the nearest available edge and make good its escape.
*** Until I went out and bought a wireless charging pad to see if that helped - and it did.
No, not the Adobe one, but the one that powers your phones and tablets and increasingly, notebooks and desktops.
Intel and Micron have announced XPoint, a brand new memory technology based on magic smoke and fairy dust* that is up to 1000x faster and 1000x longer lasting than conventional flash memory.
Such announcements are not uncommon, but are of mostly technical interest, because it takes a good ten years to get such a technology off the ground - if, that is, it doesn't run into serious problems of technical or financial viability, which happens, roughly speaking, 100% of the time.
Turns out in this case that Intel and Micron have been working on this for ten years already, and they're fabbing viable 128Gbit devices right now. Products are expected to ship by the end of the year. This year. 2015. AD. Update: It sounds like chips will be available this year, but end products aren't expected until 2016. Darn.
The big difference between these devices and common NAND flash is that XPoint is bit addressable, like RAM, where with NAND flash you have to write a page (typically 4K) at a time and erase huge blocks (2M or more), which requires a lot of fiddling behind the scenes to work. With XPoint you just write what you want, when you want, where you want.
Pricing is expected to be somewhere between NAND flash and DRAM - DRAM is about 20x the price of commodity flash.
Some use cases are obvious - solid-state caches for RAID controllers and enterprise-grade SSDs. But if we finally have a large-scale non-volatile storage solution that runs at close to main memory speeds, that is going to set the cat amongst the pigeons in the database world. It's the database holy grail, and the heart of every good database is software that tries to deliver that sort of performance without the requisite hardware unobtainium.
Now that unobtainium is due to be on store shelves for Christmas, the impossible is set to become commonplace.
* They haven't disclosed exactly how these devices work, so that's a bit of informed guesswork on my part.
1
Been working with databases for a few decades. Databases generally buffer some data in memory, partly because it's so much faster than going to disk. SAP has been talking up HANA for a while, which basically moves the whole database into memory. Also recently involved with implementing HANA-lite for a pricing subsystem. It will be interesting to see where pricing ends up.
A lot of my job has been creating indexes and queries that reduce the time required to get the requisite data from disk to memory. My understanding is that will largely go away, and accessing database tables will be more like working with internal tables -- you'll still need to do binary searches in large tables but the whole physical layer problem is basically eliminated.
I wonder if in the long run this might affect AI more than anything. Seems like it would be a lot easier to model processes for massively parallel synaptic connections in addressable memory space. And real relationships are relational, which is why the relational database is so useful.
SSD is a huge benefit for PCs, extended the useful life of mine for a few years (well, maybe only because I stopped gaming).
Posted by: TallDave at Wednesday, July 29 2015 01:32 PM (74ZYB)
2
Yep. Most people are looking at this and saying, okay, that sounds nice, I guess, but us hard-core database guys are giggling and spinning our wheels. We've been promised something like this every couple of years since about 1970, so the normals will have to forgive us if we act a bit giddy.
SSDs are already a life-saver for database tuning, but XPoint sounds like pure magic.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Wednesday, July 29 2015 01:53 PM (PiXy!)
3
What happens when Storage and RAM are indistinguishable....
Posted by: Mauser at Wednesday, July 29 2015 07:56 PM (TJ7ih)
Posted by: conrad6 at Thursday, July 30 2015 04:43 AM (826FZ)
6
The array itself is bit-addressable - it's an X/Y(/Z) crossbar at the bit level. I assume the controller / interface will impose a word size over that, as with DRAM, which has signal lines to allow the CPU to write a single byte on a 128-bit or 256-bit bus, but not individual bits.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Thursday, July 30 2015 11:08 AM (PiXy!)
7
Yeah... they moved one of our DBs onto SSD a few years back, got about 10x faster.
It's interesting, it was almost exactly the same performance boost as I'd gotten from moving the database to an 8K blocksize (they were using a 1K DB blocksize on an OS that was 8K blocksize, so every read was 8x slower).
Users like it when your database gets 100x faster over a year.
Just today I worked on a program that does a nine-table join, made it about 25x faster by finding a way to restrict one of the result sets at a different point in the query. Even when everything is indexed properly you can still have issues like this in large joins where some of the table have tens of millions of records.
Posted by: TallDave at Saturday, August 01 2015 04:18 PM (74ZYB)
8Freedom APK v3.0.1is an Android app which will let you unlock the premium features of popular games free of cost. Obviously, this is a hac-king tool that bypasses the credit checking system of Google Play and uses a fake credit card to pay for the premium features. The fake credit card has no credit loaded but the app can convince Play Store that actual money was paid.
Posted by: Freedom apk at Tuesday, December 18 2018 02:30 PM (vdqin)
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Thursday, January 23 2020 12:22 AM (PiXy!)
11
Thanks for share this post.
Please check out our Destination Hackathon website for more information about any suggestion, thought or anything that you consider. For related news, health, education, motivational, relationship, blog and content offering coverage of Art and much more...
Posted by: Yara Keily at Wednesday, March 25 2020 02:20 AM (ECymC)
The has gone through
so much thinking and research for writing this article. Thank you for searing
this great article with us . This blog is worth to read. keep sharing this kind
of post in the future. I am also an author. So if you have time, I invite you
to have a look at my https://www.irootdownload.comsite. Have a nice day ! Read More>>https://www.irootdownload.com
Posted by: Jennifer Allen at Saturday, August 08 2020 07:54 AM (XjK/p)
iRoot
Download is
the most popular and powerful rooting tool among other rooting tools in the
online market. Before anything else, I thought that it might be useful for beginners
to know some information about iRoot Download. The iRoot App is compatible with
more than 150,000 Android smartphones and tablets. Read More>>https://www.irootdownload.com
Posted by: Jennifer Allen at Saturday, August 08 2020 07:54 AM (XjK/p)
14
Bixby is a virtual assistant developed by Samsung Electronics. What Does Bixby Do? Bixby is a smart assistant that lets you voice control your phone, but it can do a lot more. You can download Samsung Bixby using this link: https://samsungsmartswitch.org/bixby
Posted by: Donald L. McDonald at Saturday, August 15 2020 07:45 PM (q0jEP)
15
i never know the use of adobe shadow until i saw this post. thank you for this! this is very helpful.slot gacor
Posted by: sandy002 at Saturday, August 19 2023 09:07 PM (29OYx)
16
This is a great inspiring article.I am pretty much pleased with your good work.You put really very helpful information. Keep it up. Keep blogging. Looking to reading your next post.briansclub.cm/orders/
Posted by: at Tuesday, November 07 2023 02:50 AM (Plm+S)
It's the Nexus 8! Or near enough. Asus shook up the tablet market in 2012 with the original Nexus 7, a genuinely good budget tablet, and again in 2013 with the updated model, which was a great budget tablet (and which I still use for several hours each day).
Asus recently announced a slate of new tablets, but the crown jewel is the Zenpad S 8.0, which is exactly what I'd want to see in a Nexus 8 and aimed dead center at the iPad Mini on features and design, while keeping the pricing that made the Nexus 7 a runaway success.
$199 for the base "C" model with a 1.3GHz quad-core 64-bit CPU, 2GB RAM and 32GB of storage (plus microSD), and a 2048x1536 8" IPS display.
It's the same size, weight, and screen as the iPad Mini, but $199 for the 32GB version vs. $349 for the iPad. Plus microSD. (Android's support for removable storage is basically poop, but iOS doesn't support it at all, so...)
So if, like me, you prefer Android over iOS anyway, it's an easy choice.
The advanced "CA" model should arrive soon, and offers a 1.8GHz or 2.3GHz CPU, 2GB or 4GB RAM, and up to 64GB of storage (again, plus microSD), plus support for a pressure-sensitive stylus. (I don't think the stylus is actually included.) It's a little lighter than the base model, and includes faster WiFi and a USB-C connector like the new Macbook and Chromebook Pixel.
Update: Pricing for the top-of-the line 2.3GHz / 4GB RAM / 64GB storage model looks set at $299, with pre-orders now and product shipping in a couple of weeks.
All models include Android 5.something. Either 5.0 or 5.1, depending on which site you believe.
The Android tablet market has been pretty dull the last couple of years, but these look like excellent performers and great value for money.
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Tuesday, July 28 2015 09:43 AM (+rSRq)
3
You put in your tape, and then it will play... Music? Right?
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Tuesday, July 28 2015 09:54 AM (PiXy!)
4
This is my cue to remind everyone how all of the anime I watched for decades was not subtitled, but "voice-overed". That was because VCR was the pinnacle of technology, so someone used 2 of them and basically read the script. Printing subtitles into the video was impossible for someone without a proper TV studio, of which less than a dozen existed in the whole country. Humble VCR made the anime accessible.
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Tuesday, July 28 2015 09:59 AM (RqRa5)
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Tuesday, July 28 2015 04:47 PM (+rSRq)
6
Hi there! I could have sworn I've been to your blog before but after
browsing through a few of the articles I realized it's
new to me. Anyhow, I'm definitely pleased I stumbled upon it and I'll be bookmarking it and checking back
frequently!
Posted by: Tera at Saturday, August 01 2015 05:59 PM (lTNw9)
7
If necessary, look at the "Requires Authentication" checkbox and enter your password as when sending mail
utilizing your regular mail program. Click "Add a filter" and enter your desired parameters.
I'm really behind. I recognised about 10% of the clips in this - Shirobako, which I love, Nanatsu no Taizai was there briefly, Chuunibyou, Kill la Kill, which I haven't seen but is very distinctive, and likewise Super Sonico. The rest is a blur.
I'm going to do a writeup of Shirobako when I have a moment, in the meantime, it's good, watch it.
Yep, those are all from Shirobako.
The new Ushio and Tora is pretty good so far. If you like 90s anime but hate 90s video quality, it's pretty much perfect. The only change I've seen so far - apart from the radical technical improvements - is that Ushio now has a flat-screen TV for Tora to destroy.
It's moving along at a cracking pace, too, faster if anything than the original OAV series. The manga ran for 33 volumes and the TV version is set for 39 episodes, so they're not going to need any filler on this one. ANN rate it an A, so either I'm not just running on nostalgia fumes here or they've got some seriously old-time anime fans writing for them.
It's being done by Studio Mappa, which was founded a few years ago by anime veteran Masao Maruyama, formerly of Madhouse, and it's incredibly faithful to the original. When they wrap up Ushio and Tora, I'd love to see them pick up another older show and give it the same treatment - like, oh, Dirty Pair.
1
Umm... I don't remember the material that went into "The Exodus OP".
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Tuesday, July 28 2015 08:11 AM (RqRa5)
2
That's from the bonus material - they did an episode of Exodus and one of Third Aerial Girls Squad, but I couldn't find the latter online.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Tuesday, July 28 2015 10:16 AM (PiXy!)
3
Copy the text from the program and paste it to your Gmail message.
" Press the trunk button to return to the previous menu.
Posted by: gmail sign in at Wednesday, August 05 2015 02:20 AM (yWc9V)
4
No Game No Life, Barakamon, probably Glasslip, Hanayamata (aka Ha Na Ya Ma Ta), Aldnoah Zero, pass, Noragami, pass, Barakamon again, pass, Inou Battle , Shirobako, pass, Megakucity actors, pass, Engaged to the Unidentified, Inou Battle again, Kill La Kill, Rail Wars, pass, Witch Craft Works, pass, pass, Golden Time, Engaged to the Unidentified again.
That should cover you for the first 30 seconds.
Posted by: Riktol at Thursday, August 06 2015 04:37 AM (MQZN9)
We had a firewall issue that blocked access to our DNS servers, which effectively shut down... Everything.
Then we had a NAT issue after I fixed the firewall. The two problems were related, but I'm still not sure exactly why they happened in the first place.
I noticed it as I was getting dressed for work this morning, but thought
nothing of it. I knew The Pixinator would be on it soon enough, and
lo, I was correct.
It really is good to know that not only is this what he does for a
living in real life, it's also something he enjoys enough to do it in
his off time. Our blogs are in good hands.
Thanks, Pixy. We don't say it enough.
Posted by: Wonderduck at Thursday, July 16 2015 11:21 AM (jGQR+)
1
Follows is an interview with Forbes-Reed on the subject of his experience building an unofficial Snapchat app.
With alternation in time, technology has also evolved approximately a
degree that individuals can now facilitate ourselves with such mediums that happen to be cost-effective and handy
too. Where you must use plants to defend your home from zombies.
2
First of all I would like to say awesome blog! I had a quick question in which I'd like to ask if you do not mind.
I was interested to know how you center yourself and clear your thoughts before writing.
I've had a tough time clearing my thoughts in getting my ideas out.
I do enjoy writing however it just seems like the first 10 to
15 minutes are generally lost just trying to figure out how to begin.
Any recommendations or hints? Many thanks!
Posted by: m88 at Sunday, August 02 2015 12:13 PM (P8epM)
Yuggoth and its cloudy moon Nithon, image captured by the NOOA probe Elder Sign.
Flyby is 14th July, 50 years to the day after Miskatonic 4's historic flyby of Mars.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
11:20 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
| Trackbacks (Suck)
Post contains 37 words, total size 1 kb.
Monday, July 06
Ushio And Tora 2015
So it seems they kicked this thing off with a production meeting where they asked: How can we update Ushio and Tora to make it relevant to the 21st century?
And then fired everyone who offered suggestions.
This show is triple-distilled Essence of the 90s, but in 1080p widescreen. It's perfect.
1
All the TV shows and anime channels for free on your Android devices using Redbox TV app. Download Redbox TV for PC and watch all HD live TV channels and TV shows for free.
Posted by: Jenniweol at Tuesday, June 12 2018 08:46 PM (ffu8m)
2
All anime Shows Download Morpheus TV app on for Android, iOS, & PC to watch latest HD Movies and TV shows for free.
Posted by: Jason at Wednesday, July 04 2018 04:26 PM (MUpR3)
Not that Bootstrap is awful; it's quite good and very useful. It's just that Semantic UI actually makes sense. And in the world of HTML, CSS, and Javascript, that's a rare thing.