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Atari Online News, Etc. Volume 16 Issue 32
Volume 16, Issue 32 Atari Online News, Etc. August 8, 2014
Published and Copyright (c) 1999 - 2014
All Rights Reserved
Atari Online News, Etc.
A-ONE Online Magazine
Dana P. Jacobson, Publisher/Managing Editor
Joseph Mirando, Managing Editor
Rob Mahlert, Associate Editor
Atari Online News, Etc. Staff
Dana P. Jacobson -- Editor
Joe Mirando -- "People Are Talking"
Michael Burkley -- "Unabashed Atariophile"
Albert Dayes -- "CC: Classic Chips"
Rob Mahlert -- Web site
Thomas J. Andrews -- "Keeper of the Flame"
With Contributions by:
Fred Horvat
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=~=~=~=
A-ONE #1632 08/08/14
~ Wi-fi Fury in Russia! ~ People Are Talking! ~ Why We Dug Up Atari!
~ Google Encryption Push ~ Apple, Samsung Agree! ~ Yahoo Joins Google!
~ PSs Outsold Xbox 3:1! ~ Sega Profits Tumble! ~ DEF CON Conference!
~ Fastest Internet Speed ~ Toughen Up Passwords! ~ Suface Goes On Sale!
-* Privacy Lawsuit Vs. Facebook *-
-* AOL Still Tricking Dial-up Millions *-
-* Major Homeland Security Contractor Hacked! *-
=~=~=~=
->From the Editor's Keyboard "Saying it like it is!"
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Here we are at the end of another week; and it's been another of those
weeks from Hades (okay, Hell!). No complaints, no excuses - just the way
that it's been. Like for many, life occasionally gets in the way of life!
Until next time...
=~=~=~=
->In This Week's Gaming Section - PlayStations Outsold Xboxes 3:1!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Sega Profits Tumble!
Why We Dug Atari!
And much more!
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE's Game Console Industry News - The Latest Gaming News!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Sony Financials Reveal PlayStations Outsold Xboxes 3:1 in Q1 2014
Sony has released its financial report for the first quarter of the year
from April to June 30, revealing games revenue has risen 95.7 percent
year-on-year.
The results reveal ¥257.5bn ($2.5bn) generated in sales from Sony's Games
& Network Services division, which the company attributes to the
successful launch of the PS4. As a result, last year's first quarter loss
of ¥16.4bn ($164m) has been replaced by an operating profit of ¥4.3bn
($43m), even though sales of PS3 consoles and games have fallen.
Though Sony doesn't reveal how many PS4 and PS3 consoles were sold
separately, the report confirms combined sales to the consumer of 3.5
million units in the first quarter of the year, a big jump from last
year's 1.1 million, while sales of PSP, Vita and Vita TV rose to 750,000,
up from last year's 600,000.Combined software sales also saw a leap from
¥68bn to ¥85bn.
Microsoft's financial report for the same period was announced last week,
revealing combined shipping figures for Xbox One and Xbox 360 sit at 1.1
million, meaning for the first three months of this financial year the
PlayStation brand outsold Xbox 3:1.
Sony is forecasting revenues of ¥1,240bn for the Games & Network Services
division for the full year, with an operating income of ¥25bn. Full year
forecasts for the business as a whole remain unchanged, with the decision
to sell the PC business still proving costly. There's an investor call
dealing with the results due later today, so we'll update the story as
more news is revealed.
Sega Profits Tumble Following Lack of Releases
Sega has released its results for the first quarter of the financial year,
revealing a profit drop of 57.4 percent.
During the period starting in April and ending June 30 the
Japanese-publisher earned ¥88.3 billion ($858 million) in revenue, which
was up slightly on the year before, but saw its net profits fall to ¥5.5
billion with half-year losses expected to come in at ¥7 billion ($68
million).
The only title released in the quarter was Persona Q: Shadow of the
Labyrinth, which only hit the Japanese market and sold 250,000 units.
Older titles continued to sell to the tune of 1.7 million units with
digital game sales making up around half of the income, but the bulk of
the company's revenue came from its Japanese arcade businesses,
especially Pachinko and Pachislot, which saw ¥47.5 billion ($461 million)
in revenue and an operating profit of ¥13 billion ($126 million).
With the year ahead promising Sonic Boom and Alien: Isolation, hopefully
the company will manage to turn things around before the year's end.
GameStop Locations in Philadelphia Requiring Fingerprint Scans for Trade-Ins
According to a new report by CBS Philadelphia, certain GameStop stores in
Philadelphia are requiring customers to provide a fingerprint scan when
they go to trade-in their games to the store.
GameStop says they are following local law that allows them to collect
thumb prints that go into a secure database called LeadsOnline which
will help authorities track down who is selling stolen products.
However, City Solicitor Shelley Smith says the city isnt requiring
GameStop to follow this law.
What GameStop does doesnt meet any of the elements of the definition in
the code, so the pawnbreaker ordinance doesnt apply to GameStop.
Understandably, people were vocal about this policy, with customers
outside a GameStop in Center City saying, I really dont appreciate it.
You fingerprinted me like Im in a police district. No, Im at a game
store and I think its an overreach. Its going too far.
Following this story coming out, Kotaku spoke with an employee at a
GameStop in Philadelphia, where they revealed this measure has been in
effect for about a month, following a request from Philadelphia police to
implement harsher security measures.
An Hour of Video Games a Day Can Be Good for Kids
A new study published Monday in the journal Pediatrics finds that playing
video games for up to an hour a day can be beneficial for 10- to
15-year-olds.
Electronic gaming and psychosocial adjustment, believed to be the
largest study of its kind, was carried out by Oxford University and
examined the positive and negative effects of video gaming on a
representative sample of 5,000 UK children and teenagers.
It found that a little gaming goes a long way to helping children feel
well adjusted, when compared with 10- to 15-year-olds who dont partake
of console games at all.
Children who play console or computer games for up to an hour a day were
the most likely to express satisfaction with their lives, had the highest
levels of sociability, and appeared to have fewer friendship, emotional,
or hyperactivity issues than other subjects in the study.
However, there appears to be a tipping point. When children play for
three hours or more a day, they are less well adjusted.
The studys author, Dr. Andrew Przybylski, speculates that this could be
related to how much of a childs free time is taken up by video gaming.
If a child has three to four hours of free time a day and the majority of
it is taken up by gaming, then he is missing out on other valuable,
enriching activities.
However, whether good or bad, the research suggests that the impact of
video games on children is very small when compared with what it
describes as the more enduring factors of family life and material
deprivation.
These results support recent laboratory-based experiments that have
identified the downsides to playing electronic games. However, high
levels of video game playing appear to be only weakly linked to
childrens behavioral problems in the real world. Likewise, the small,
positive effects we observed for low levels of play on electronic games
do not support the idea that video games on their own can help children
develop in an increasingly digital world, said Dr. Przybylski, who
believes that more research will now need to be done into understanding
what types of games have the biggest positive benefit on children and
how other external factors impact childhood and adolescent development.
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE Gaming Online - Online Users Growl & Purr!
"""""""""""""""""""
Why We Dug Atari
"Punk archaeologists" explain that they went looking for more than just
video-game cartridges in a New Mexico landfill.
There we were at a trash dump in New Mexico: archaeologists, a documentary
film crew, Alamogordo city representatives, security and safety teams, a
French gourmet food truck, a bevy of hundreds of curious onlookers, and
reporters and photographers from Reuters, CNET, and other media outlets.
Everyone was there to witness the rather unceremonious cracking of a
sealed deposit of Atari Inc.s e-waste on April 26, 2014. There were
hundreds of old games buried in the landfill, casualties of a collapsing
video-game market in the early 1980sand some terrible game-making.
The media outletsBBC, NPR, CNN, NBC, and many otherswould go on to make
the dig an international news item, just interesting enough, just weird
enough, just nostalgia-inducing enough, to make the final minutes of
broadcasts around the world.
But the stories about the buried games were more complex than the outputs
of the media flurry.
The residents of Alamogordo, the town that houses the dump, have their
version. The recent attention to their southern New Mexico city validated
their first-hand accounts of the actual disposal from September 2224,
1983. All exhumed remains supplied concrete evidence to quiet those who
dismissed the disposal of Atari cartridges and hardware as urban legend.
Game collectors have their story, too. For them, the dig provided the
extraordinary opportunity to get to the bottom of the infamous Atari
landfill. Nostalgia had its role, playing upon the remembrances of
40-somethings hoping to reclaim a restorative piece of a childhood that
Atari helped define.
Searching for them reversed the expectations of a culture that values the
past only if it is old and unique.
Then there is the face of the Atari Legend, an Atari 2600 game called
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, which was subjected to merciless production
constraints that resulted in its dubious reputation as the worst game
ever. Many (mistakenly) hail the game as Ataris death knellif not the
catalyst to the death spiral of the entire North American games
industry. The validation of the dumping ground provided them with an
authentic grave upon which to dance. The games creator, Howard Scott
Warshaw, attended the dig, which tempered the cynicism and fed a real
sentimentality toward the man, the game, and the games alien. For many,
finding the games brought E.T. home.
There were, of course, economic interests as well. The dig was seen by
some as a publicity stunt by the city of Alamogordo to cash in on its
happenstance claim to fame and to generate profits by auctioning
souvenirs to the highest bidders. And there was the fairground ballyhoo
for Xbox Entertainment Studios and Lightbox Entertainment to promote
Atari: Game Over (working title), the first in a new documentary series
that may also be its last.
It was an extraordinary media blitz to say the least. Much of the frisson
came from the digs presentation as archaeology, but few outlets focused
on the actual work we, the archaeologists, did.
And wed like to explain ourselves.
Here we all are. Were Andrew Reinhard, Richard Rothaus, Raiford Guins,
Brett Weber, and William Caraher. Were a collective of Punk
Archaeologists. The punk moniker harkens back to the suburban culture of
the late 1970s/early 1980s that drove Atari to prosperity while
simultaneously declaring a critique of those consumerist and materialist
values. And, just as punk resisted any unified identity or agenda, our
archaeological team embodied a range of motives, perspectives, and
theoretical commitments that made us want to be there when the excavation
machinery rumbled to life.
This is why we did what we did a summary of our intentions and
reflections on the aftermath.
To Reinhard, the leader of the archaeological team, it felt like a
possible mistake, an out-nerding of the nerds to get beyond the velvet
rope to see the Holy of Holies. Reinhard and Guins, completely unaware
of one anothers actions, first reached out to Fuel Entertainment after
it had acquired permission to excavate the landfill in June 2013. Their
initial contact was motivated by personal research interests in video
games, archaeological science, and video game history. Reinhard was
ultimately asked to be the lead archaeologist for the project while Guins
joined as the teams historian based upon the field research on the
landfill conducted for his book, Game After: A Cultural Study of Video
Game Afterlife. For some, the dig was seen as a tomb raid, but Reinhard
wanted to expose the stratigraphy of the landfill and the interplay
between domestic trash and the corporate dump of Atari products. As noble
or scientific as those goals might have been, the team also operated out
of enlightened self-interest: This excavation put archaeology on the
global stage, and raised its profile and capital. After so many digger
shows, the team sought to document this salvage excavation according to
disciplinary standards. We pursued our work under the popular media
microscope, distinct from looters in terms of intention, methods, and
outcomes.
While generally agreeing on the larger mission, our team members had
different expectations about what would be found and how the work would
proceed in the brief window allocated by New Mexico safety restrictions.
There were also varying concerns about likely tensions between scientific
method and documentary filmmaking. The project was largely dependent on
the overarching story and schedule of the director even as team members
professional interests and intellectual investments in the histories and
archaeology of late capitalisms contemporary past exceeded the subject
matter of the documentary.
So why did we, the archaeological team, dig Atari? Rothaus quipped, Why
not? The games were not rare, but common. Searching for them reversed
the expectations of a culture that values the past only if it is old and
unique. The desert landfill would not provide clean emptiness, but the
overwhelming toxic waste of the late 20th century. Instead of a stupidly
over-hyped here is why Mayan civilization collapsed! or look, the
Santa Maria! or a sunken Mycenean town! we turned our efforts to
things that are so common they can be found on eBay for $1.99. We would
shout over the dust storm, value lies in experience, in memory, not just
in the object. We would fight fetishist fanboys who forget that context
gives these games meaning.
An issue of the Alamogordo Daily News from September 25, 1983 with the
headline, Tons of Atari games buried: Dump here utilized found mixed in
with the subject of its front-page story.
Why dig? Not to determine if Atari games were really buried in
Alamogordo, as so much coverage of the dig has implied. We knew that the
games were there. This was a fact largely confirmed by Ricky Jones of
Alamogordo, who ransacked the landfill on Thursday, September 22, 1983
before Atari Inc.s products were crushed a few days later. No, rather
than confirming a falsely-named urban legend, the Atari excavation
offers a unique look into corporate history and end-of-lifecycle for
products. Companies tend to hide the locations of disposed surplus and
damaged goods. To most people, returned, overproduced, and undersold
products just vanish, unnoticed. Last years models, failed releases,
and returns contrast with the hyped sales figures, new advertising, and
marketing plugs surrounding new products. Contrary to Ataris long-dead
corporate expectations, the publicity for its unsold titles
cameunwelcomed and enduring. The so-called legend of the Atari dumping
just would not die. The company either underestimated or simply never
imagined the staying power of a brand in the minds of devotees raised
on 1980s careless consumerism.
A combination of enthusiast verve, corporate ambivalence, and
rumor-milling tumble-weeded for 30 years, making the process of locating
the deposit a fascinating puzzle. Joe Lewandowski, Alamogordos resident
solid waste management expert, obsessed over the this puzzle, working
from memory, landscape, and photographs to lock in where the games were
actually buried within the landfill.
On April 26, 2014, city staff, contracted labor, and fandom unearthed the
physical remains of a multi-national corporation that mismanaged its
consumer electronics division, a moment in game history when the
executive suits of Warner Communications culture clashed with Silicon
Valley creative types accustomed to hot-tub Fridays and flip-flops.
From 1976 to 1984, the imaginary entity nostalgically referred to
simply as Atari was really Atari Inc. a subsidiary of a
multi-billion dollar media empire. The cracking veneer of the North
American games industry included a rapid descent from the January 18,
1982 cover headline of Time when video games were blitzing the world
to the hushed 1983 convoy of semitrailers depositing the forsaken.
Eventually, a layer of earth covered the trash that covered the games,
and they evaporated into myth.
Departing from an otherwise featureless building in El Paso, Ataris
products passed through the hands of numerous retailers, consumers, and
gamers. Warehouse workers packed them on trucks and retail employees then
took them from nondescript boxes of six or 10. Gamers brought them home,
opened the cardboard packaging, pressed the hard plastic cartridges into
Atari game consoles, and then gripped rubberized joysticks to press their
lone red button.
Within a year or so, some games made their way back to the warehouse,
others remained unsold on the shelves or storerooms of retailers, and
others never boarded trucks.
The most anticipated game of the 1982 holiday seasonE.T. The
Extra-Terrestrial did not perform as expected and was, along with other
Atari products, transported to the dump. The retail dispersal was
reversed and in 1983 a convoy transported and then transformed Atari
products from objects of desire into waste.
Alamagordos landfill operators then buried the games under concrete and
tons of domestic trash with their price stickers, return receipts, and
their original packaging intact. Eventually, a layer of earth covered
the trash that covered the games, and they evaporated into myth.
Thirty years later, over the course of a weekend of digging and sorting,
the gamesmostly too damaged to function as suchwere transformed once
again into the material record of the past. Properly catalogued,
arranged, and conserved, the materials serve as evidence to help document
the political economy of games. The extracted, crushed game cartridges
and gnarled packages reveal a stage in a products lifecycle beyond
design, consumption, and utility. Brought to the surface, they prove
intentional destruction: game software not as revolutionary invention
but as discarded stuff along with mounds of plastic bags, bottles, cans,
cardboard, newspapers, old Play-Doh, a porn mag, and domestic rubbish.
City staff, locals, eccentrics from across the nation, filmmakers, and
archaeologists collectively witnessed the perilous moment when these
objects made the leap from abandonment to return. Exceeding the
scientific enthusiasm of an earlier generation of archaeological
garbologists, the discarded games moved from rubbish to artifacts of
study and then on to museum objectsevidence of past events preserved in
the present, a memento mori. Some of the former trash will appear for
sale once again as collectors items, or become part of museum
collections (once the City of Alamogordo offers its gifts), and very
possibly molder in a secure storage room of the community of Alamogordo
who took possession and responsibility for the games as they came out of
the earth.
Participating in the transition of these games from object of consumer
desire to museum artifact, we became the archaeologists of these
objects life history.
Our work transgressed the arc that most objects trace as they move from
desire to discard. The teams investment in this enterprise was neither
to shout eureka nor to myth-bust, but to help ensure that excavated
materials live on in cultural institutions, defying consumerist erasure.
The subversive act of resuscitating objects intentionally interred and
forgotten draws upon the same punk intellectual tradition that celebrates
squatting or repurposed, anachronistic melodies. Punk Archaeologists
understand that the reinvention of 1950s pop by 1970s punk bands like the
Heartbreakers, the MC5, and the Ramones exemplified the value in objects
discarded in favor of newer, better, and faster models. For Caraher, the
three-day excavation schedule for a deposit less than four decades old
reinforced the ever-accelerating pace of life in late capitalism.
Recycling, in a way, and recognizing the value in these discarded
objects offers the opportunity to slow the pace of 21st century
capitalism by reminding us that our actions can produce value in
objects. Just as we can laugh about our involvement in an excavation
funded in part by Microsoft, we can also see our work as undercutting
the rapid commodification of experience by moving an object from being
cast off to being venerated. Even the most disposable of objects pushed
aside by rapidly changing tastes and technologies can become desirable
once more, offering a post-ironic critique of our culture of discard.
The sample we processed reveals a broad range of titles, but most
importantly it demonstrates that Atari Inc. didnt play favorites. They
dumped the lotregardless of any single titles market performance, or
lack thereof.
It was not just the processes of bringing objects back to cultures
persistent gaze that piqued our professional interests, but also the
games themselves: crushed, twisted, deformed, amalgamated, degraded, and
even sometimes intact software that escaped the tread of a bulldozer.
Guins in particular wanted to eat his own words. In Game After, he
adopted a cynical view on the integrity of the Alamogordo remains,
doubting that recognizable artifacts could be retrieved should the
landfill ever be excavated. Guins doubt stemmed from what he learned of
the measures the landfill took to discourage scavenging: the crushing of
games mixed with waste, dirt, and globs of cement (no smooth layer was
ever poured). He imagined ecofact not artifact, mulch not mummies
preserved in the anaerobic bowels of the landfill. He was glad to be
proved wronglargely because of the desert-dry conditions and lack of
waterlogged waste in this particular cell in the landfill. Atari
catalogs, manuals, warrantees, packaging, controllers, and cartridges
were vacuum-sealed and ripe for documenting.
Having such a vast range of legible materials confirmed Ricky Jones
account of his scavenging trip back in 1983: E.T. shared its coffin with
many other Atari titles. Also present: Howard Scott Warshaws more
celebrated titles like Yars Revenge and Raiders of the Lost Ark, both of
which sold millions of units. The pallets that arrived at Alamogordo were
loaded with games developed by other Atari programmers as well. Also
exhumed were Tod Fryes Pac-Man, Rob Fulops Missile Command, Space
Invaders, and Night Driver, Larry Kaplans Air-Sea Battle, Carla
Meninskys Warlords and Star Raiders, Bob Polaros Defender, and Warren
Robinetts Adventure, along with the creative labor of numerous other
programmers. These intentionally abandoned products unearthed on
April 26, 2014 had production runs spanning the period from 1977 to
1983, from the launch of the Atari VCS to the games crash.
Many games were recovered in their original shipping packages while
thousands of loose cartridges dotted the surface.
The sample we processed reveals a broad range of titles, but most
importantly it demonstrates that Atari Inc. didnt play favorites. They
dumped the lotregardless of any single titles market performance, or
lack thereof. Landfills dont discriminate and they dont lie. They are
great levelers. The story of this particular dig and this particular
layer is one that no amount of collective nostalgia and E.T. memorabilia
can now shroud.
Once one sidesteps nostalgia, other fascinating connections between the
dumping of Atari Inc.s products and U.S. history begin to materialize.
Over the last three years, Caraher, Rothaus, and Weber have been working
on the North Dakota Man Camp Project, which documents the social and
material culture of man camps (temporary labor housing) in North
Dakotas oil boom counties. Spurred by new technology and higher oil
prices, the boom has made the state into an economic powerhouse. But at
the same time, long-term residents remain haunted by the economic crashes
that killed previous booms in this remote and sparsely-populated region.
The three found interesting parallels between the ephemeral nature and
frenetic pace of extractive industry activity in North Dakota and the
surreal experience of the weekend dig.
The historian-cum-social worker of our group, Weber was particularly
interested in the media circus, the intersection with frontier settings,
and the uniquely American relationship with the boom-bust business
cycle. The mystique of the desert was part of the attraction that
weekend; after all, it was an X-Files style cliché that filmmakers and
archaeologists were in New Mexico searching for buried aliens. But he
also considered the American fascination with success, the readiness to
denounce failure, and the tempering of both with the love of an underdog.
The Atari boom of the 1970s and 1980s came about as youth culture
transitioned from baby-boomers to Gen Xers, from 45s to home computers.
There was also the fading excitement about or maybe even a hangover
from a Space Age that no longer held the same fascination as the
earlier race to the moon, but instead flirted with a less pragmatic,
more romanticized and almost maudlin notion of discovering and joining
life from elsewhere in the universe. This all came together in the fall
of 1982, leavened by the lingering hype of Spielbergs summer blockbuster
and proofed by the consumerism of the hotly anticipated Christmas season.
Many who unwrapped Christmas gifts during those years clearly remember
the magical name Atari.
During that weekend this April, many waited for the resurrection. The
filmmakers and their sponsors could create buzz in a way that would not
have been possible when the games were originally dumped.
Ataris bust coincided almost simultaneously with the peak of the 1980s
recession, when unemployment in the U.S. hit its highest level since the
Great Depression: 10.8 percent during the Christmas shopping season of
1982. Like so many boom-era companies before it, Atari Inc. suffered
from corporate hubris: Skyrocketing sales fed a sense that they could do
no wrong. A frantically compressed production schedule for the E.T. game
failed to produce a quality product, and nevertheless overshot the
deadline to be included in that years Sears Christmas Wish Book.
Economic booms, corporate hubris, and fading dreams of the galaxy are
insufficient explanations for the excitement at exhuming them in the
spring of 2014. There was talk about the 30th anniversary of the dumping
of the games, but that date had already come and gone. Maybe the social
and economic standing of the aging gamers had more to do with itthe
young players of 1982 were now old enough to be nostalgic, and wealthy
enough to finance an indulgence in fabricated memory. Capital, time,
rose-colored memories
such resources flowed more freely and widely in
the age of social media. The revered Atari had fallen and E.T. became
"the worst game ever."
During that weekend in April, many waited for the resurrection. The
filmmakers and their sponsors could create buzz in a way that would not
have been possible when the games were originally dumped. And it wasnt
just those players. The city councilor in Weber reflected on the city of
Alamogordos decision not just to allow this strange excavation but
actively to engage with it. He wanted to see how they would try to brand
and market trash dug up from thirty feet below their closed landfill.
Economic development is always a tricky puzzle for small cities in
sparsely populated areas, and Alamogordo lacks the artsy aura and
mountain mystique of Santa Fe. So Weber was curious to see how the city
was going to play this.
Like everyone, Weber was curious to see the games, but he also wanted to
see the concrete, the liminal space between product and trash, the
threshold between the legend and the spoiled treasure. After Ricky Jones
and his friends had gone shopping in the open landfill in the Fall of
1983, Atari had allegedly sealed the deal by encasing the layer of games
under concrete. In reality, it seems they just puddled enough concrete
atop it to discourage the resale of products still stocked on store
shelves. The heavy equipment operators working in 2014 did not find a
concrete floor that needed to be cracked, no tomb to break into.
Instead, there was only limited evidence of concrete (at least in the
sampled area), as though Atari had pissed on its product in disgust one
last time.
In the media storm that followed the actual dust storm at the dig site,
the archaeology was overlooked by most newspapers, wire services, and
bloggers. The story was (and will likely remain) that filmmakers had
found the games (or, the game, E.T.). A not-untrue statement. But the
filmmakers had also engaged archaeologists as scientists, and looking
back on the weekend in the desert, one can choose between a cynical or
an optimistic view. On the one hand, the filmmakers understood that the
excavation offered a genuine, golden opportunity for archaeologists,
garbologists, anthropologists, and historians to get a glimpse into a
modern landfill, excavating our recent past while watching the audience
react to the discovery. Would that hundreds of cheering people be the
norm for any moment of discovery as it happens! Cynicism sets in with
the view that the team merely served as props in archaeology theater,
adding a new dimension to the documentary, a new tension as scoop after
scoop of trash was sifted, and ultimately a kind of scientific
validation over what was originally tagged by many as a publicity
stunt.
Brett Weber and William Caraher documenting E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial
games on April 27, 2014.
Talking with the documentary director Zak Penn, along with others
associated with the project suggests we might blend these two outlooks
together. The documentary earnestly seeks to explore the near-destruction
of the gaming industry, focusing on the Atari Dump Site and burial of
E.T. as a very real metaphor for its failure. As archaeologists and
historians, we treated this event with sincerity while recognizing the
project for what it was: entertainment largely produced for gamers and
geeks. It was a compromise, but one we made gladly. None of us had ever
excavated e-waste, and digging a landfill with archaeological methods
is still (and sadly) a once-in-a-lifetime event. We were more than
willing to work in front of the cameras for a career day in the field.
Andrew Reinhard documenting various titles and game controllers on
April 27, 2014:
In a symbiotic effort, all parties got what they wanted. The
archaeologists got to excavate and record the Atari materialeventually
we will publish our work for both the general public and for the
professional archaeological community, opening up our data and images
for free use by anyone who remains interested in what we recovered and
observed. The filmmakers got the footage they needed for their
documentary. The city enjoyed worldwide attention that weekend. The
audience was vindicated when the first games were recovered from the
landfill. Fans of Atari rejoiced in their recovered cultural heritage.
Ours was a salvage in these many different senses.
We dug Atari because this spectacle provided the necessary means to
directly access the contemporary past for purposes of archaeological
and historical research. How could we refuse?
=~=~=~=
A-ONE's Headline News
The Latest in Computer Technology News
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
Major Homeland Security Contractor Hacked
A company that performs background checks for the U.S. Department of
Homeland Security said Wednesday it was the victim of a cyber attack,
adding in a statement that it has all the markings of a state-sponsored
attack.
The computer breach at Falls Church, Virginia-based U.S. Investigations
Services (USIS) probably involved the theft of personal information about
DHS employees, according to the Washington Post, which first reported the
story.
DHS said it had suspended all work with the company amid an investigation
by the FBI. A multi-agency cyber response team is working with the
company to identify the scope of the intrusion, DHS spokesman Peter
Boogaard said in a statement.
At this time, our forensic analysis has concluded that some DHS
personnel may have been affected, and DHS has notified its entire
workforce, out of an abundance of caution, to advise them to monitor
their financial accounts for suspicious activity, he said, adding that
employees whose data had likely been compromised would be informed.
The Office of Personnel Management had also suspended work with USIS, the
Post said, adding that government officials do not believe the breach has
affected non-DHS employees.
We are working collaboratively with OPM and DHS to resolve this matter
quickly and look forward to resuming service on all our contracts with
them as soon as possible, USIS said in the statement on its website.
We will support the authorities in the investigation and any prosecution
of those determined to be responsible for this criminal attack, it said.
Experts who have reviewed the facts gathered to date believe it has all
the markings of a state-sponsored attack, the company said.
USIS says it is the biggest commercial provider of background
investigations to the federal government, has more than 5,700 employees,
and provides services in all U.S. states and territories, as well as
abroad.
Google Using Its Clout To Widen Use of Encryption
Google is wielding the power of its dominant Internet search engine to
push more websites into protecting the people using their services.
The move, announced late Wednesday, involves a change in Google's closely
guarded formula for determining the rankings of its search results.
Websites that automatically encrypt their services will now be boosted
higher in Google Inc.'s recommendation system. For now, encryption will
remain a small factor in Google's ranking formula, but the Mountain View,
California-based company says it may put greater emphasis on the
security measure in the future. It wants to make it tougher for
government spies and computer hackers to grab the personal data of
unwitting Web surfers.
Users can tell if a website is encrypted if its address begins with
"https."
Google beefed up security of its search engine and popular Gmail service
after former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden revealed
that the U.S. government has been vacuuming up personal data. The
surveillance programs exploited gaping holes in unencrypted websites.
When websites are encrypted, it's more difficult for interlopers to sweep
up data transmitted over unsecured Wi-Fi networks in homes or widely
trafficked areas such as airports or stores.
Online security is a hot-button topic amid the Snowden revelations and a
series of high-profile hacking attacks that filched credit card numbers,
passwords and other personal information. In the most recent scare,
online security firm Hold Security this week revealed that it had
discovered a gang of Russian hackers have stockpiled more than 1.2
billion passwords stolen from more than 400,000 websites.
Google has a vested interest in making people feel more secure online
because the company makes most of its money from ads that are shown next
to search results and other Web content. If people were to become leery
of Web surfing because of security concerns, it could crimp Google's
profits.
Even so, encryption is unlikely to become the most important factor in
Google's website-ranking equation. The quality of a website's content and
its relevance to a search request remain among the most influential
ingredients.
Websites, though, are constantly looking for every edge that they can get
to ensure they rank high on Google's search results to give them a better
chance of attracting traffic and making money. Google processes about two
out of every three search requests in the U.S. and an even higher
percentage in Europe, so its rankings can make or break websites.
Encrypting websites will cost their owners extra money, but they could
lose even more if they fall out of Google's favor.
Even if the entire Web becomes encrypted, it still wouldn't be enough to
prevent security breaches caused by inadequate protection of the website
servers that store credit card numbers, Social Security numbers,
passwords and other sensitive data.
Yahoo Joins Google in Making E-mails More Secure
Yahoo will work with Google to create a more secure e-mail system by next
year.
The announcement came from Yahoo Chief Information Security Officer Alex
Stamos at the Black Hat 2014 security conference in Las Vegas. Yan Zhu,
who previously worked for the Electronic Frontier Foundation and is an
advocate for widespread encryption, tweeted the announcement from the
conference, adding that she has joined Yahoo as the first member of a new
privacy engineering team to work on e-mail encryption.
This move comes as technology companies are working to safeguard users'
data after a year of large-scale security breaches as well as revelations
of US electronic spying made last year by former NSA security contractor
Edward Snowden.
While encrypted e-mails have long been common to those who take vigilant
precautions regarding their online data, they are still mostly unfamiliar
to average e-mail users. Encryption works by turning e-mails into a
series of unreadable characters unless you have the code to unscramble
them. Traditionally, encryption tools have been too difficult for most
Internet users to use.
But those days could be over.
In June, Google announced plans for the End-to-End Chrome extension to
make e-mails more easily encrypted. Now, Yahoo which typically competes
with Google is joining the fray to develop a more user-friendly
encryption tool. Both companies have reportedly stated that the tool
will be optional for users to activate.
The tool in development will reportedly use a form of PGP encryption, an
encryption feature that has been around for a while. In order to use it,
both the sender and recipient of the e-mail must have their own
encryption key which is used to unscramble the e-mail in question
stored on their computer, tablet, or smart phone.
However, an article in The Wall Street Journal brings up the possible
legal concerns that could come from encryption services becoming more
widespread. Last year, for example, the encrypted e-mail service
Lavabit, previously used by Mr. Snowden, went out of business after
being compelled by the federal government to turn over the keys to its
encryption tools.
But as Ars Technica reports, were encryption to become widely available
as a Web browser plug-in, e-mails become encrypted before they're even in
transit. This means a company like Yahoo or Google does not actually
possess the encryption keys, making it more difficult for government
officials to demand that the encryption keys be turned over.
Should a company such as Yahoo face legal issues, Mr. Stamos said the
situation would be quite different from that of a company like Lavabit,
telling The Wall Street Journal that Yahoo is a "publicly traded
multibillion dollar company with an army of lawyers who would love to
take this argument all the way to the Supreme Court."
In similar security trends, Facebook announced Thursday it is acquiring
the security firm PrivateCore, a company that defends computer servers
from malware attacks by scrambling data on memory chips. On Wednesday,
Google announced it would begin giving more weight to encrypted websites
in its search results, a move designed to push sites to adopt the more
secure HTTPS encryption over the more commonly used HTTP. And last week
Twitter acquired the password security start-up Mitro.
More Than 17,000 Join Privacy Lawsuit Against Facebook
More than 17,000 people have signed up to join an Austrian law students
class action against Facebook over the social media groups alleged
violations of its members privacy, the student said Tuesday.
Max Schrems, 26, appealed last week to a billion Facebook users to join a
claim he filed at Viennas commercial court as part of his campaign.
Under Austrian law, a group of people may transfer their financial claims
to a single person in this case, Schrems. Legal proceedings are then
effectively run as a class action.
The echo to his appeal has been giant, much more than expected, Schrems
said, adding that most people to sign up were from Europe.
The emails and feedback have been really positive, and what is
interesting is that many people say finally someone is doing something in
this direction, he said.
Schrems is claiming damages of 500 euros ($670) per user for alleged data
violations by Facebook, including aiding the U.S. National Security
Agency in running its PRISM program, which mined the personal data of
users of Facebook and other Web services.
He is also seeking injunctions under EU data-protection law at the court
in data-privacy-friendly Austria.
Some of those joining his cause are donating money, he said. It is good
to see that for most people it is not a matter of (getting) money but of
advancing the matter, he said.
Schrems, who already has a case involving the social network pending at
the European Court of Justice, invited others to join his Vienna court
action at www.fbclaim.com using their Facebook logins.
Facebook, which has declined comment on the campaign, has come under fire
before for allegedly violating data-protection laws.
Most recently, Britains data watchdog began investigating whether a 2012
experiment on unwitting users, in which it tried to alter their emotional
state to see if their postings turned more positive or negative.
The worlds biggest social network, Facebook now has 1.32 billion users.
It posted a 61 percent increase in sales in the second quarter, buoyed by
mobile advertising, sending its shares to a record high and valuing the
company at almost $200 billion.
Fury in Russia Over New Wi-Fi Curbs
A new government decree requiring Russians to provide their passport
details when logging on to public Wi-Fi networks had Internet users up in
arms on Friday.
The decree amends an existing law with a new clause that says "providing
communication services on data transfer and Internet connection will be
done by the operator... after user identification."
The Wi-Fi connection provider would have to collect the user's full name
and passport information, and would have to store the data for six
months, along with details of how long the person was logged on,
according to the decree.
The regulation is the latest blow to Russian Internet users, with
opponents of President Vladimir Putin denouncing it as yet another
attempt to control even the tiniest dissent.
"This is as bad as it sounds and even slightly worse," Russian protest
leader Alexei Navalny wrote on his blog.
"Before our eyes a real "big brother" is being created... a system that
knows who wrote what, where, and from what device," he said.
Contradictory explanations from various officials surfaced after the
criticism, with the Moscow city government saying the measure would only
effect Internet zones in Russia's post offices.
The communications ministry said the measure was a part of Russia's
crackdown on terrorism, and that private Wi-Fi networks established by
individuals would not be affected.
"If the Wi-Fi network is established by a communications operator, he has
to ask the user to provide ID data via a text message or a special form
before providing access," the ministry said in a statement.
But the operator could also get the information by "enquiring with the
relevant authorities," it said, without elaborating.
Communications Minister Nikolai Nikiforov, writing on his Twitter
account, said the restrictions would be in line with global practice.
"User identification (via bank card, mobile number, etc) when accessing
a public Wi-Fi is a world practice," he wrote.
Apple, Samsung Agree To End Patent Suits Outside U.S.
Apple and Samsung said in a joint statement today that they have agreed
to drop all suits against each other in countries outside the U.S. Claims
are being abandoned in Australia, Japan, South Korea, Germany,
Netherlands, the U.K., France and Italy. Zeb Eckert has more on "Asia
Edge."
Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. are starting to wind down their
global patent battle.
The companies said in a joint statement today that they have agreed to
drop all suits against each other in countries outside the U.S. Claims
are being abandoned in Australia, Japan, South Korea, Germany,
Netherlands, the U.K., France and Italy.
The agreement shows Apple and Samsung may be nearing a conclusion to what
has been a drawn-out and occasionally nasty worldwide patent fight, which
has sprouted alongside the booming market for touch-screen smartphones.
Apple has accused Samsung of copying its iPhone designs, while Samsung
has countered that Apple is using pieces of its wireless-transmission
technology without permission. Neither side won an overarching decision
harming the others sales, and judges repeatedly urged the companies to
settle rather than play out their dispute in court.
There had already been signs of de-escalation prior to todays
announcement. Apple and Samsung agreed in June to drop their appeals of a
patent-infringement case at the U.S. International Trade Commission that
resulted in an import ban on some older Samsung phones. Apple and Google
Inc., which makes the Android mobile operating system that Samsung uses
in many of its handsets, also announced a deal in May to drop lawsuits
against one another related to Motorola Mobility.
Still, they said in the statement that they arent ending the legal
battles completely, nor have they reached any cross-licensing agreement.
Samsung shares fell in Seoul.
Apple and Samsung have agreed to drop all litigation between the two
companies outside the United States, the companies said in the
statement. This agreement does not involve any licensing arrangements,
and the companies are continuing to pursue the existing cases in U.S.
courts.
Michael Risch, a law professor at Villanova University in Pennsylvania,
said in an e-mail that the deal shows how Apple and Samsung see their
mixed worldwide results as not worth the effort. Yet he cautioned that
since there is no cross-licensing agreement, the companies may just be
taking a breather before the next skirmish begins.
The U.S. continues to be a legal battleground, Risch added, as the
smartphone market shares for Apple and Samsung shift. Chinese makers
Huawei Technologies Co. and Lenovo Group Ltd. are gaining ground
globally by offering feature-packed phones at lower prices.
The patent fights grew out of the surging sales for smartphones. After
Cupertino, California-based Apple introduced the iPhone in 2007,
popularizing the use of phones with touch screens and Internet access,
Samsung followed suit with a wave of models with different styles and
prices.
The rivalry sparked two protracted patent-infringement cases in federal
court in San Jose, California. Apple scored victories in the two
California suits, including a $930 million verdict in 2012 and a $120
million result earlier this year.
The hearings unveiled a trove of internal company documents on both
sides, including e-mails showing Samsungs urgency to quickly get a
smartphone on the market to match Apples iPhone, and notes from Apple
executives complaining about the effect of Samsungs advertising on the
iPhone.
Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook, Samsung mobile chief Shin
Jong-Kyun and other executives from both companies attended a full-day
session with a mediator in the first week of February, and
representatives from both sides had several follow-up phone calls with
the mediator, according to a report the companies filed that month.
Other sessions in 2012 and 2011 also failed to generate a deal.
The settlement comes as Samsung grapples with declining demand for its
smartphones and slumping earnings. Its global market share declined
7.4 percentage points last quarter from a year earlier, and the company
lost the top spots in key markets China and India.
Samsung last week also posted its smallest quarterly profit in two years,
with its China shipments dropping 15 percent.
The whole industry paradigm is changing, Lee Seung Woo, an analyst at
IBK Securities Co. in Seoul, said by phone. Apple and Samsung have no
time to waste and its time to get back to work.
Complicating the legal spat has been that Apple and Samsung are close
business partners, with Suwon, South Korea-based Samsung providing
critical components like semiconductors and memory chips for Apples
mobile devices.
The worlds top two smartphone makers have spent hundreds of millions of
dollars in legal fees on battles across four continents to dominate a
market that was valued at $338.3 billion last year, according to IDC.
Samsung controlled about 31 percent of the global market last year,
compared with Apples 15 percent, the market researcher said.
Top Code Slingers Converge on DEF CON
You may have heard of ComicCon, but in an era where cyber reigns you
should know about DEF CON.
The best code slingers in the world are hitting Las Vegas this week for
the 22nd annual largest and longest-running hacking conference.
More than 10,000 people are participating in the intense four-day event,
which kicked off at the Rio Hotel. The greatest hackers converge for
briefings, competitions, networking and a whole lot of fun.
If you want to catch up on the latest hacks, new vulnerabilities and get
up to speed on computer bug bounties then this is the place to be.
Given that creative minds often excel at pranking, organizers at the
DEF CON and Black Hat conferences send tips to journalists in advance to
help them avoid cyber pitfalls.
For example, attendees are encouraged to take steps to safeguard hotel
room keycards since devices may be circulating that can copy your key
from a distance.
ATMs and Wi-Fi networks in the vicinity also warrant caution and using
gifts, like seemingly innocent-looking USB drives, might not be the best
idea.
This year the extremely reclusive John McAfee, founder of the McAfee
antivirus software company, is the surprise keynote speaker.
I believe that the world needs the collective talents of these
individuals now more than ever, he said. Our fundamental right to
privacy is being eroded at an alarming rate by invasive and
misappropriated technology, and as privacy is diminished, so are our
freedoms. We must take a stand now and join forces, or I fear this
erroneous turn will soon become irreversible.
DEF CON is home to cutting edge briefings, but it is also the setting
for competition on an epic scale.
There are fun, light-hearted, contests like the DEF CON Beard &
Moustache Competition and there are ones that reflect the compassion of
participants like the Be The Match Foundation Bone Marrow Drive.
There are also lots of other contests and games away from the keyboard
like the self-explanatory "Beverage" Cooling Contraption Contest (BCCC)
and the lock-picking contest Black Bag.
Jeff Moss, DEF CONs founder, who is also known as The Dark Tangent,
has introduced the Tamper Evident Village that challenges participants
to defuse a bomb. Its described as Bring your own tools, have an
action hero moment for yourself.
A long running and popular tradition at DEF CON is playing the "spot the
fed" game. DEF CON also attracts government employees from the likes of
the FBI and NSA, as well as police officers. Attendees try to spot the
feds who are trying to blend in.
In the past, The Dark Tangent asked the NSA and other government
agencies not to attend in any official capacity.
His blog posted a statement on the subject entitled "Feds, We Need Some
Time Apart." It has been more than a year since the infamous Edward
Snowden leaks kicked off, but it is too early to tell if the reception
to government employees at DEF CON will be any warmer this time round.
The "wall of sheep" is another recurring game at the conference. For
those who failed to heed the friendly heads-up to be careful, the partial
names and passwords of attendees who connected to the unsecured Wi-Fi
network are displayed on the wall as a fun gentle warning to learn to
think before you type.
In addition to the large scale partying, there are also events like movie
night. Tonight The Signal, a story about hackers on a road trip to
DEF CON, is being shown.
Hackers also battle for supremacy in a number of hard-core contests that
pit the very best against the very best.
Capture the Flag is an annual fixture and the competition is so fierce
that some spend competitors spend the duration of the conference working
on winning the prestigious title.
Another event this year is the wittily-entitled SOHOplessly Broken.
Despite plenty of research indicating that SOHO (small office/home
office) devices are highly vulnerable to attack, manufacturers have
failed to respond to calls to better protect users.
In the first part of the contest, hackers devise their own
vulnerabilities that could be applied to routers, internal networking
hardware, and mobile Wi-Fi hotspots. The second part is a sort of relay
race where two teams race to crack a series of routers.
Competitions like these have been invaluable in identifying
vulnerabilities. And when top talent crack these tough puzzles, it can
spell good news for the Average Joes lacking elite cyber skills.
AOL Still Tricks Millions of Subscribers Into Keeping Their Dial-up Subscription
While more and more carriers and Internet service providers are looking
at ways of increasing data speeds, some people are still stuck on
dial-up service, or at least theyre paying for it even though they
might not really need it. AOL has no less than 2.34 million dial-up
subscribers left, Re/code reports, who pay just over $20 per month for
dial-up Internet access, even though many of them may already get their
Internet fix from somewhere else.
AOLs dialup business might finally, finally die in 5 years The number
of subscribers has dropped significantly from 2011, when AOL had 3.62
million subscribers paying $18 a month for the service, but the company
still has a huge chunk of customers, which it charges an average of
$20.86 per month right now.
The company managed to beat Wall Streets Q2 revenue and profit numbers,
with a large lump of its money coming from these faithful dial-up
subscribers who dont mind paying $20 a month for a service they might
not even be using anymore.
Tim Armstrongs company says its subscription business generated $143
million in Adjusted OIBDA its proxy for operating income last
quarter, Re/code writes. Thats more than the $121 million in Adjusted
OIBDA that the entire company generated.
The State With The Fastest Internet Speed Is Down South
Virginia was ranked the top state for fastest Internet speed in the U.S.,
according to Broadview Networks. Other top states included those along
the east coast, such as Delaware, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
The days of slow dial-up speeds are fast behind us, but if you are still
impatiently waiting for your videos to stream, moving down south is your
best bet. According to a map created by the communications and cloud
service Broadview Networks, Virginia has the country's fastest Internet
service.
Virginia's Internet speed has an average of 13.7 megabits per second
(Mbps) based on data from Akami's "State of the Internet" report
published in June. States were ranked as being "high broadband"
locations if it had an average speed higher than 10 Mbps. "Low
broadband" states were categorized as having speeds lower than 4 Mbps.
26 states in total met the high broadband requirements. While Virginia
was the top ranked state for speed, Alaska ranked the slowest speed with
7 Mbps. Other slow Southern states included Kentucky, Montana and
Arkansas with an average of 7.3 Mbps.
Northeast states - excluding Maine - all show to have fast Internet
speeds. Delaware and Massachusetts tied as the second fastest states with
13.1 Mbps. Rhode Island with 12.9 Mbps and Washington D.C. with 12.9 Mbps
followed.
The U.S. as a whole has an average of 10.5 Mbps, ranking number 10 when
compared to other countries. South Korea took home the honor of fastest
Internet speed with an average of 23.6 Mbps.
Fast Internet speed is essential when streaming videos online.
Communications company Level 3 has accused unnamed internet service
providers for slowing down its broadband access on purpose in the past.
Level 3 is known for helping connect providers such as AT&T and Comcast
Corporation.
Netflix has also complained that Comcast and Verizon slowed down
streaming so that the company would have to pay more for efficient
delivery of their videos. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
banned Internet service providers from blocking websites or charging
companies more for content streaming.
Netflix has its own Internet speed index for service providers. Netflix
ranks Cablevision Optimum as the highest speed in the U.S. with 3.10 Mbps
and Verizon DSL the lowest with 0.91 Mbps.
Follow These 4 Easy Steps To Toughen Up Your Passwords
1. Get a good password manager.?The best passwords are long strings of
letters, numbers, and symbols that you cant remember. So youll need a
tool to keep track of them ideally, one you can access from any device.
Look for a product that not only stores passwords but also generates
them for you. I like 1Password, which works well on Mac OS, Windows,
iOS, and Android.
2. Perform a password audit.?Import all your existing passwords into your
password manager (you probably have more than you realize stored in your
browser). Now for the audit. Search for reused passwords first; these
are your biggest security risk. Eliminate every instance of repetition.
Then search for schemes (like 1234Facebook or 1234Google). A savvy
hacker or cracking program will get past those in seconds. Finally,
sort your passwords by strength and change the weak ones.
3. Search your email.?Your inbox is a treasure trove of passwords. An
easy solution: Do a simple search for password and delete all the
results. Also search for login and username. This way, if someone
does get into your email, hell have a harder time finding all your
accounts.
4. Wall off critical accounts.?Your bank, email, online investing, cell
phone, Internet service, and data storage accounts are critical. Take
extra steps to protect these. If you havent already done so, set up
two-step verification for such accounts. Two-step login requires an
additional code thats sent to your phone (the code changes each time).
If your bank doesnt offer two-step verification, change to one that
does.
Microsofts Newest Surface Lap-Tablets Go on Sale
A little more than two months after its unveiling, Microsofts Surface
Pro 3 is finally available for purchase in all its forms. The latest
editions of the tablet include the base model, which sells for $799, and
a more high-end version, with a faster processor and more storage, that
sells for $1,949.
Available at retailers including the Microsoft Store, Best Buy, and
Walmart, as well as online stores including
TigerDirect.com, the Surface
Pro 3 is Microsofts third attempt at creating a tablet that can double
as a laptop for business and power users.
The tablet itself features a super-sharp 12-inch touchscreen and measures
a svelte 0.36 inches thick, slightly thinner than a 13-inch MacBook Air
laptop.
The Surface Pro 3s standout feature, beyond its ability to run all
Windows-compatible programs, is its built-in adjustable kickstand that
lets you stand the tablet up on a desk like a laptop or lay it flat like
a tablet.
In terms of specifics, the $799 version of the Surface Pro 3 gets an
Intel Core i3 processor and 64 GB of storage. The more expensive model,
on the other hand, gets a more powerful Intel Core i7 processor and a
whopping 512 GB storage drive.
Thats more than enough space for all your work files, not to mention a
few full-length movies to watch during those long business trips.
A midrange $999 Surface Pro 3, which features a Core i5 chip and 128 GB
drive, has been on sale since late June.
Though Microsoft markets the Surface Pro 3 as a tablet that can replace
your laptop, the slate doesnt come with a physical keyboard. Instead,
youll have to shell out an additional $129 for a Surface Pro Type Cover,
which features a keyboard and touchpad and doubles as a cover, hence the
name.
A stylus is also available for the Pro 3, though that will cost you
another $49.99.
IBM Envisions A Brainy Internet of Things with New Chip
In keeping with IBM's old motto, the IT giant hopes to lay the groundwork
for an Internet of Things (IoT) that "thinks." On Aug. 7, the company
unveiled its largest chip ever, which contains 5.4 billion transistors
and features an architecture that is inspired by the way the human brain
processes information.
A product of the DARPA-funded Systems of Neuromorphic Adaptive Plastic
Scalable Electronics (SyNAPSE) project, the "fully functional and
production-scale chip" features 256 million programmable synapses,
1 million programmable neurons and 4,096 neurosynaptic cores. It is
capable of performing 46 billion synaptic operations per second per
watt.
By comparison, the single-core prototype developed in 2011 had just
262,144 programmable synapses and 256 programmable neurons.
Despite its capabilities and size - IBM describes the second-generation
SyNAPSE chip "as one of the largest CMOS chips ever built" - it sips
power. According to the company, "it consumes a minuscule 70mWorders of
magnitude less power than a modern microprocessor."
The brain-like chip as built using Samsung's 28nm chip making process,
which incorporates dense on-chip memory and low-leakage transistors.
Power savings are achieved, in part, by the chip's event-driven
architectures, which draws power only when it needs to, unlike
traditional chips which consume electricity even at idle.
Shawn Han, vice president of Foundry Marketing for Samsung Electronics,
said in a statement the project leveraged "a process traditionally used
for commercially available, low-power mobile devices to deliver a chip
that emulates the human brain by processing extreme amounts of sensory
information with very little power." He called the chip a "huge
architectural breakthrough that is essential as the industry moves
toward the next-generation cloud and big-data processing."
According to Dr. Dharmendra S. Modha, Chief Scientist of IBM Research's
Brain-Inspired Computing unit, his company "has broken new ground in the
field of brain-inspired computers, in terms of a radically new
architecture, unprecedented scale, unparalleled power/area/speed
efficiency, boundless scalability."
The innovation could help pave the way for smarter, more aware IoT
systems and mobile devices. "These brain-inspired chips could transform
mobility, via sensory and intelligent applications that can fit in the
palm of your hand but without the need for Wi-Fi," added Dr. Modha.
=~=~=~=
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