Entertainment corner

Tuesday, 4 February 2014

Upcoming flood of new top-level domains could change how we surf the internet

By Graham Templeton on January 31, 2014 at 9:30 am
- - A big name start-up called Donuts Inc. is finally getting a chance to test its great theory of the internet: URLs matter, and if Donuts just happens to get rich along the way, so be it. That’s the sales pitch, as the company rolls out the first seven of potentially hundreds of new top-level domains (TLDs), insisting that the new approach will change the way we use the internet. The new TLDs (sometimes called generic TLDs or gTLDs), which became available this week through dozens of domain sales companies, are: .bike, .clothing, .guru, .holdings, .plumbing, .singles, and .ventures. That .com of yours seems a little dull now, eh?
    
    So, why do you care? Unless you’d already been planning on starting up a clothing company, you probably don’t in the short term. However, it is true that the new regulatory approach to URLs, first exploited here by Donuts, could be revolutionary — ICANN, the body in charge of administering TLDs, decided a few years ago to allow open season on address endings. If you’ve got $185,000 lying around to buy an application, and another $25,000 per year for administration fees, then you can go register just about any string of three or more letters.
    
    It remains to be seen just how well this will work. The existence of .com, .net, .org etc. technically opens the way for multiple different organizations to use the initials CNN on the internet. Nobody wants to compete with CNN for mindshare, however, so CNN.org has few possible uses besides redirection to CNN.com and, of course, domain squatting. More generic terms are more useful (“flowers.com” vs “flowers.net”), but people can easily mix them up or miss the site they really wanted. For a long time there have been only a couple of dozen TLDs to worry about. Now, ICANN has almost 2,000 in the pipe.
    
    And every one of those new TLDs mean, for many companies, new obligations to register their brand name. This occurs both at the level of TLDs (Amazon recently lost the war for .Amazon to some South American countries) and at the level of the web address (Amazon wants to own every amazon.whatever there could possibly be). The implicit financial burden put on companies has already caused problems in the past, even when introducing just a single new TLD.
    
    ICANN has introduced new TLDs in the past. When .xxx was introduced it was supposed to revolutionize online content. Porn would line up under this new banner, much more easily categorized, found, avoided — and blocked. Collection of objectionable content in such a neat package seemed, to some, an irresistible temptation to government censors. These skittish sites also refused to go through the trouble of rebranding themselves with a kitschy new suffix. Eventually, frustrations over losing .xxx URLs to new-comers led two major studios to bring suit against ICANN. They wanted preference in buying their own names under the new TLD — and last year, they were granted a temporary but extreme discount in purchasing price.
    
    Here is the Enom.com price chart for GrahamTempleton.com. No more guru business for me. :(
    
    Still, buying your own TLD can have advantages. Not everyone wants to re-sell addresses; if the BBC bought .bbc it could collect content under more intuitive labels. News.bbc could sit atop more specific sites like Syria.bbc, Elections.bbc, or Olympics.bbc. In the future, you may go to mail.google to check your email.
    
    Then there’s the whole “What Dot?” approach, which gives us addresses like “WalkMy.Dog” or “BillyThe.Freelancer.” That approach seems cheesy and unprofessional to me, but many companies think it will make their online location more memorable.
    
    Whatever the reasoning, right now the main applicant for TLDs is Donuts Inc, with more than 300 applications. This is followed by Google and Amazon — that’s the sort of money you can raise with promises of internet dominance. The four industry veterans behind Donuts were able to collect about $100 million to fund their online speculation business. It remains to be seen whether that investment will work out for either them or the public.
    
    One thing is clear, though: With the $185,000 barrier still standing between users and domains, it will be a long time before the full advantages of domain ownership trickle down to smaller companies and individuals. Right now both the pricing and explicit rules prohibit anyone but established corporations from bidding on TLDs. Once novel TLDs become common-place, those barriers will hopefully vanish.

AMD unveils its first ARM CPU, the 64-bit 8-core Opteron A1100

By Sebastian Anthony on January 29, 2014 at 9:55 am
- - AMD has finally taken the wraps off its upcoming 8-core 64-bit ARM SoC, codenamed Seattle. Seattle (officially designated Opteron A1100) is a server-class clip, with four or eight 64-bit ARM Cortex-A57 cores. The part, which begins sampling in March, is aimed squarely at the low-power server market, where AMD hopes that the SoC’s low cost (about one tenth the cost of competing Intel Xeon parts) can wrestle some market share away from Chipzilla. Performance-wise, AMD only gives rough figures, but it appears that the top-end A1100 will be around 2.5x faster than AMD’s current low-power Jaguar-based server chip (the Opteron X2150), while maintaining the same TDP.
    
    AMD’s A1100 SoC is a bit of a beast. There’s the option of either four or eight CPU cores, “based” on ARM’s 64-bit Cortex-A57 design (it isn’t clear whether AMD has modified the core or not), clocked at 2GHz or higher. Each pair of cores have 1MB of shared L2 cache (up to a total of 4MB), and all cores will share 8MB of L3 cache. The main feature that AMD seems to have worked on is a new memory controller, which is 128 bits wide and supports both DDR3 and DDR4 RAM, in SODIMM or DIMM format (registered or unbuffered). If registered DIMMs are used, a single A1100 SoC supports up to 128GB of RAM. The chip will be built at GlobalFoundries’ on its bulk silicon 28nm node.
  - Rounding out the specs, there’s an on-die 8-lane PCIe 3.0 controller, an 8-port SATA 3 (6Gbps) controller, dual-10GbE, and ARM’s TrustZone tech. AMD assured Anand that the chip was capable of sustaining full bandwidth to all eight SATA ports.
    
    In short, except for its wimpy CPU performance, this is an impressive, server-class chip. With support for so much RAM, tons of hard drives, and two 10-Gigabit Ethernet connections, AMD is positioning the A1100 as the ideal chip for low-power, high-density server farms. There are many situations where the raw computational power of big, expensive x86 CPUs isn’t required. Serving websites, cold storage, and Memcached are all prime use-cases for AMD’s first ARM chip. AMD isn’t talking exact pricing yet, but the “total solution price” should be around one-tenth of a Xeon-powered server — or around $100 per Opteron A1100. The general idea is that you can take those huge cost savings and plow it into more storage and RAM — a very desirable solution for many enterprise customers, I assure you.
  - There’s no word on whether the A1100 will include a graphics core, but with a 25W TDP it probably won’t. Once AMD has the toolchain and developers to make heterogeneous computing a relaity, though, an ARM-based Opteron APU would be a definite possibility. (Read: AMD buys SeaMicro, starts selling Intel-based servers.)
    
    AMD says it intends to sample the Opteron A1100 in March, with a reference board available for those who want to try the architecture out. Servers based on the new chip are expected to be announced in Q4 2014. Over the next few months, we can expect to see some real benchmarks, power consumption figures, and so on. What remains to be seen, though, is whether ARM is truly viable as a server architecture. Just last month, Calxeda, one of the original ARM server startups, closed its doors. AMD definitely has the engineering skills to produce a strong chip, but actually getting big customers to move away from tried-and-tested x86 will be difficult — especially with ARM’s much weaker software ecosystem.
  - According to AMD, small and cheap chips always win out … so watch out, Intel!
  - AMD lays out its (hopeful) future in this slide
    
    Just as with Kaveri and its promise of heterogeneous computing, the impact of AMD’s ARM efforts may be significantly delayed. Both chips are exciting on paper, but in reality it’s very much a case of wait-and-see.

Crossbar nanowire chips combine to form tiny CPU for beyond-Moore’s-law electronics

By Ryan Whitwam on February 3, 2014 at 9:11 am
- - As transistor technology continues its march forward with smaller, faster components, we’re getting ever closer to the point at which the realities of atomic scale will put an end to Moore’s law — unless we find a way around it. A team of researchers from Harvard and non-profit research company Mitre have devised a possible solution to the problem using nanowires as a stand-in for traditional transistors in tiny processors.
    
    The device created in the lab is by no means a match for modern computer processors, but it is built on a completely new process. The chip designed by chemist Charles Lieber and his team uses germanium core nanowires just 15 nanometers wide. The wires themselves are coated in silicon and are laid out in parallel on a silicon dioxide substrate. Embedded in the surface of the chip is a network of chromium and gold contacts, but these run the opposite way, creating a crisscross pattern.
    
    Each of the points in the chip where the nanowire crosses the embedded contacts can act as a programmable transistor node. Applying voltage to the nanowires toggles them between on and off. The researchers call this a “crossbar array.”
    
    The Harvard chip has 180 of these faux-transistors divided into three separate tiles. One tile is used to run basic mathematical operations and the other two store one bit of memory each. That makes this chip a simple 2-bit adder without any regular CMOS transistors. Yes, it’s a far cry from all but the most primitive CPUs, but the team believes this design can be scaled up simply by adding more nanowires to a larger grid of contacts. Four tiles would create a 4-bit adder array, for example.
    
    This isn’t the first time nanowires have been investigated as a way to circumvent the limits of Moore’s law, but the issues inherent with material at this scale have prevented it from being practical. Placing nanowires with the necessary level of precision is extremely difficult, and if a wire comes in contact with another one, it shorts out and knocks out all the transistor nodes down the line. Lieber and his team solved this problem with a technique dubbed “deterministic nanocombing.”
  - Before applying the nanowires, the substrate that will form the base of the chip is coated in a thin film of photoresist. Next up, narrow slots are carved out using electron-beamlithography. The slots are where nanowires are intended to go, but they won’t just slot themselves in. They almost do, though. The wires (which have already been grown on a different substrate) are chemically treated so they will stick to the exposed silicon oxide surface in the slots. Then the nanowire-encrusted substrate is dragged across the chip and the wires are deposited. The rest of the resist can be removed after the nanowires are situated.
    
    The circuits built with this process are small and very low-power, which makes them ideal for implantable devices like real-time biosensors. Imagine a tiny device that could be implanted under the skin to monitor blood glucose levels in diabetic patients, but uses virtually no power. The same properties could make nanowire chips perfect for advanced microcontrollers in robots. Lieber doesn’t see nanowires as a replacement for transistors in large-scale CPUs, but as a way to make processors far smaller and faster than silicon could ever scale.

Windows 8.1 Update 1 leaks: Boots to the Desktop by default, allows Metro apps to be minimized

By Sebastian Anthony on February 3, 2014 at 8:37 am
- - Updated @ 7:45am. A build of Windows 8.1 Update 1 has leaked onto various file sharing websites. The build is a couple of weeks older than the one we covered in the story below, but most of the major changes are there (booting straight to the desktop, the menu bar on Metro apps to make them more mouse-and-keyboard friendly).
    
    The latest build of Windows 8.1 Update 1 has leaked, revealing many of the changes that Microsoft hopes will make Metro less painful for desktop users. The biggest change appears to be that Windows 8.1 Update 1 will boot straight to the Desktop interface by default, reducing Metro to its rightful role as a full-screen Start menu. This, of course, would be a complete 180 from the original release of Windows 8, which defaulted to the Metro interface and lacked an easy way to see the Desktop after logging in.
    
    Other notable changes in the leaked build of Windows 8.1 Update 1 are the addition of a power button to the Metro interface (no longer must you swipe in from the right-hand side!), and the option to “minimize” Metro apps, strongly hinting that Metro apps will be usable on the Desktop. (One of the screenshots shows the Windows Store icon on the taskbar, too.) Apparently, if you have a Windows tablet that’s smaller than 8.5 inches, the power button won’t be present, preventing you from accidentally turning your tablet off.
  - Windows 8.1 Update 1, showing a Metro app with a new title bar at the top, probably for use on the Desktop.
  - New UI scaling options in Windows 8.1 Update 1
    
    It appears Microsoft might finally be tackling Windows 8′s issues with high-resolution displays, too. Windows 8 and 8.1 are rather limited in their support for high-resolution (150+ PPI) displays, offering a slider with just three UI scaling options. Update 1 will now include three new scaling options: 200%, 250%, and Custom (up to 500%). This should mean that your Lenovo, Dell, and Samsung laptops with 3200×1800 displays will now actually be usable. This change should also help if you have a 24- or 28-inch 4K display (32-inch displays are generally okay due to their lower PPI).
    
    But let’s get back to the main point at hand: If Windows 8.1 Update 1 really does boot to the Desktop by default, we’re talking about a huge change of direction for Microsoft. Despite massive pushback from consumers over the Metro interface, Microsoft has remained steadfast. If we’re brutally honest, we actually agree that popularizing the Metro interface is vital for Microsoft’s future, and that he Desktop’s days are numbered — but forcing mouse and keyboard users to use the Metro interface was just plain stupid. It would have required almost no effort on Microsoft’s behalf to make the Desktop UI the default for non-touchscreen devices.
  - Windows 8.1 Update 1 Desktop, showing the build string, and a Metro app on the toolbar
    
    For what it’s worth, it seems the boot-to-Desktop-by-default feature is only present for some people who have installed the leaked version of Update 1. We wouldn’t be surprised if this change doesn’t make it into the final build — it really would be Microsoft’s ultimate admission of defeat. We should also note that, despite early rumors, there’s still no evidence that the old Start menu will make a reappearance. (Read: How to bring back the Start menu and button to Windows 8.)
    
    This leak, like many other Windows leaks, come from the Russian website WZor. The full build string, in case you’re wondering, is 9600.16606.WINBLUES14_GDR_LEAN.140126-2042, and it was compiled on January 26. Windows 8.1 Update 1 is a service and feature pack combo that’s scheduled to arrive in March, ahead of Microsoft’s Build conference in April (where we might hear about the next update, Windows 9).

Sunday, 12 January 2014

Jennifer Lopez -- INSANE LAWSUIT -- Man Says She Begged Him for Naked Pics ... But It Stinks Like Catfish

1/12/2014 7:25 AM PST BY TMZ STAFF

Jennifer Lopez has been dragged into what looks like the craziest catfish debacle of all time -- a man just sued the singer, claiming she duped him into sending her naked photos in the mail ... but it appears a rando 53-year-old woman is secretly behind everything.

Rodrigo Ruiz filed the $10,000 suit against Lopez in L.A., claiming she sent him a letter out of the blue in 2008, demanding he reply with naked photos ... as well as his demo CDs.

He claims the letters led him to believe he had a chance at a music career -- and even a romantic relationship with Lopez, but she never followed through and he eventually gave up hope. Ruiz says he was so depressed he sought out professional help.

Ruiz sent us a few of the 3-line letters he received from "Lopez" and they're obviously bogus ... the first reads, "I just wanted to let you know that I do remember you and that I am interested in you. I have plans on leaving my husband. But I can't say much right now so that's it for now. Send me pictures of you both with clothes and without clothes."

Here's the second -- "This is Jennifer Lopez writing to you again and just to let you know that I got your packages, music, and demos. And just to let you know you need to send me pictures of you with and without clothes."

The third is the best -- "This is Jennifer Lopez and as you can tell its been a while since I last wrote and as you can see I have a new boyfriend which means your in for the long haul and you have to put up with the fact that I am f**king him and sucking his d**k."

In addition to the lawsuit, Ruiz filed a police report claiming sexual harassment.

Ruiz still believes Lopez sent these letters to him, but records show the P.O. box he replied to is owned by a 53-year-old L.A. woman.

We called her to ask about the lawsuit and everything else, and she nervously concocted a lame explanation about operating a Jennifer Lopez fan mail exchange ... and hung up on us.

A rep for J.Lo tells TMZ, "this is a small claims matter that appears to be a desperate attempt for notoriety. Ms Lopez has never seen or met the plaintiff, nor has she ever communicated with him. We believe this matter should be summarily dismissed."

Catfishing someone via snail mail. Never thought we'd see the day.

Read more: http://www.tmz.com/2014/01/12/jennifer-lopez-lawsuit-catfish-naked-photos-rodrigo-ruiz-kathleen-bartels/#ixzz2qCeC3Z1I

Only Kristen Stewart Could Make A Topless Video Boring

1/10/2014 2:00 PM PST, by Emily Trainham

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJL0h5JHVXk

When you hear that a super gorgeous celebrity just released a topless video, it's probably a little exciting, right? Sure, we're all human here. But when Kristen Stewart releases a topless video, specifically a topless behind the scenes video for her new Balenciaga perfume ad, it's pretty much the most boring thing that ever happened in the history of the whole entire world.Sorry.

But hey, at least she's pretty, right?

'Bold & Beautiful' Star Victor Alfieri -- I Was Attacked With a Hairbrush!

1/12/2014 12:45 AM PST BY TMZ STAFF

It's pretty ironic ... "Bold and the Beautiful" star Victor Alfieri -- famous for his flowing locks -- claims he was attacked with a hairbrush ... and now he wants protection from the perp.

Alfieri has just got a restraining order against 47-year-old Christopher Veech, who lives with Alfieri's neighbor. According to docs, Veech beat him in the face last month with a hairbrush ... and has relentlessly harassed him for more than a year and threatened to put him in the hospital.

According to Alfieri, Veech was arrested for battery but released a day later ... and the harassment never stopped.

Alfieri doesn't explain why there's such animosity, but he does say the right side of his face still hurts like a bitch and his right eye now twitches.

Here's the problem. The judge granted the restraining order, but can't order Veech to stay far away because he lives in Alfieri's building. So the order is that Veech must stay 3 YARDS away.

As they say ... every inch counts.

Read more: http://www.tmz.com/2014/01/12/the-bold-and-beautiful-victor-alfieri-restraining-order-hairbrush-attack/#ixzz2qCbach1L

Whitney Houston's Mom -- PISSED Over Bobbi Kristina's Marriage

1/12/2014 12:30 AM PST BY TMZ STAFF

Bobbi Kristina and her "adopted" brother/new husband SAY Grandma Cissy Houston gave them her blessing to tie the knot ... but we're told that couldn't be further from the truth.

Bobbi Kristina and Nick Gordon are now engaged, and they proudly told us so. They also claimed they attended a Sweet 16 soiree and that's where Cissy gave her thumbs up.

But our Houston family sources say they were at the party ... neither BK nor Nick ever asked Cissy for her approval.

In fact we're told Granny Houston was PISSED when she found out the two tied the knot last week ... but realized there's nothing she could do it about it.

The greatest love of all.

Read more: http://www.tmz.com/2014/01/12/whitney-houstons-bobbi-kristina-cissy-nick-gordon-not-approve-wedding/#ixzz2qCajNHRB

Saturday, 4 January 2014

Paul Walker Autopsy Report -- Horrifying Injuries

1/3/2014 1:15 PM PST BY TMZ STAFF

Paul Walker's entire body was charred through the skin it was burned so badly ... this according to the autopsy ... burned so bad none of his organs were suitable for donation.

According to the report ... obtained by TMZ ... Walker's body was laying supine in the passenger seat in a "pugilistic stance" -- that's a defensive position, as if he were bracing himself for impact.

He had multiple fractures throughout his body, including his jaw, collarbone, and left upper arm. There were also various ribs and pelvic fractures.

The report concludes Walker died from "combined effects of traumatic and thermal injuries" sustained from the Nov. 30 crash in Santa Clarita, CA.

According to the report, the L.A. County Coroner is preserving portions of Paul's organs in a jar -- sources tell us tissues are kept for a certain period of time in case of lawsuits.

Roger Rodas -- the driver -- suffered major head trauma with the top portion of his skull fractured and his brain exposed.

No alcohol or drug traces were found in either body.

The report also says there was "scant soot in Walker's trachea" -- suggesting he took a few breaths after impact. Sources close to the investigation, however, tell TMZ, they believe both men died almost immediately.

And the report goes on ... Paul had 14% carbon monoxide saturation in his blood stream ... the normal level is 2%. Roger had 10%.

According to the report ... after impact the car spun 180 degrees, struck a tree and nearly tore in half before exploding in flames.

Read more: http://www.tmz.com/2014/01/03/paul-walker-autopsy-report-roger-rodas-death/#ixzz2pSqSdOVK

برنامج مفاتيح مع مفيد فوزي و النقاد و المفكر صلاح فضل

قال الدكتور صلاح فضل شيخ النقاد إنه ذهب إلى مدريد كارها في بعثته لأنه كان من المقرر أن يذهب لباريس مضيفا أنه لم يتوقع أن يجد في مدريد الفن والوهج.

وتابع فضل خلال لقائه على فضائية "دريم" في برنامج "مفاتيح" مع الإعلامي مفيد فوزي أنه قضى 18 عاما في مدريد ولم يزر مرة نادي ريال مدريد لأنه يعتبر الكرة محاولة لملء الفراغ الأبيض حيث لا تغذي روحه .

ولفت فضل أنه شغف بباريس من أحاديث طه حسين وقول البعض انها عاصمة الدنيا ولو كان هناك عاصمة للآخرة لكانت هي أيضا وأنه حزن عندما ذهب لمدريد نتيجة نقص في العملة الأجنبية وقتها موضحا أنه تأثر بالشاعر لوركا وتعمق في حياة الأندلس