Laptops prone to failure
In an analysis of failure rates for over 30,000 new laptop computers covered by SquareTrade Laptop Warranty plans, the independent warranty provider found that one-third of all laptops will fail within three years. Two-thirds of this failure — 20.4 percent — came from hardware malfunctions, and one-third — 10.6 — percent was reported as accidental damage.
SquareTrade also found that netbooks are projected to have a 20 percent higher failure rate from hardware malfunctions than more expensive laptop computers. ASUS and Toshiba were the most reliable manufacturers, with fewer than 16 percent having a hardware malfunction over three years.
Stop texting, please!
Sending text messages while driving has become surprisingly common and researchers say it represents a much greater risk to drivers than other distractions. A study from the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI) found that drivers who send text messages while behind the wheel are 23.2 times more likely to risk a crash or near crash event than non-distracted drivers.
Many drivers know the risks of texting while driving — and do it anyway. The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety published polling data that shows that 87 percent of people consider drivers texting or e-mailing to pose a “very serious” safety threat. Of the 2,501 drivers surveyed, 95 percent said that texting was unacceptable behavior. Yet 21 percent of drivers said they had recently texted or e-mailed while driving. About half of drivers 16 to 24 years said they had texted while driving, compared with 22 percent of drivers 35 to 44.
Besides texting, talking on a cell phone also poses dangers. A previous VTTI study found that drivers were three times more likely to crash or come close to a crash when dialing a phone and 1.3 times more likely to crash when holding cell phone conversation.
Rethinking computer design
Researchers from Intel Labs have demonstrated an experimental, 48-core Intel processor or “single-chip cloud computer,” that rethinks many of the design approaches used in today’s designs for laptops, PCs and servers. The long-term research goal is to add incredible scaling features to future computers that spur entirely new software applications and human-machine interfaces. The prototype containing 48 fully-programmable Intel processing cores is the most ever on a single silicon chip. It also includes a high-speed on-chip network for sharing information. Plus, in a glimpse of how computing could become much more energy efficient, the prototype uses newly-invented power management techniques that allow all 48 cores to operate extremely energy efficiently at as little as 25 watts when idle, or at 125 watts when running at maximum performance, about as much as today’s Intel processors and just two standard household light bulbs.
Intel plans to gain a better understanding of how to schedule and coordinate the many cores of this experimental chip for its future mainstream chips. For example, future laptops with processing capability of this magnitude could have “vision” in the same way a human can see objects and motion as it happens, at high accuracy. Imagine, for example, someday interacting with a computer for a virtual dance lesson or on-line shopping that uses a future laptop’s 3D camera and display to show you a “mirror” of yourself wearing the clothes you are interested in. This kind of interaction could eliminate the need for keyboards, remote controls or joysticks for gaming. Some researchers believe computers may even be able to read brain waves, so simply thinking about a command, like dictating words, would happen without speaking.
Intel Labs have nicknamed this test chip a “single-chip cloud computer” because it resembles the organization of datacenters used to create a “cloud” of computing resources over the Internet, a notion of delivering services like online banking, social networking, or online stores to millions of users. Cloud datacenters are comprised of tens to thousands of computers connected by a physically cabled network, distributing large tasks and massive datasets in parallel. Intel’s new experimental research chip uses a similar approach, but all the computers and networks are integrated on a single piece of Intel 45-nanometer high-K, metal-gate silicon about the size of a postage stamp, dramatically reducing the amount of physical computers needed to create a cloud datacenter.
