Barabus TKR: 1005 HP, 0-60 mph in 1.67 secs, 270 mph top speed

Barabus Sports Car Ltd. (not to be confused with Brabus, the Mercedes-Benz tuner) has been working on a 1005-bhp supercar for the past ten years. It's being unveiled at the British Motor Show in London this week. Its powered by a 6.0L V8 with twin turbochargers and dual intercoolers. Veyron killer anyone?

External Graphics Cards?

From Tomshardware:

"High-end graphics cards can already pull down almost 150 W without blinking. Expect even higher power requirements to come, as neither ATI nor Nvidia have yet divulged any plans to move to a smaller manufacturing process with their DirectX10 parts."

"Another consideration is the fact that graphics cards are sporting larger memory densities to support higher capacities. Even with the advent of GDDR4 and its smaller production process, these new devices mean - you guessed it - that the next generations of cards might consume even more power."

"Rumors have it that the R600, the next ATI graphics core, will consume even more power. We are certain that Nvidia's will as well, since the company must add an additional set of shader processors and organizational units for Direct3D 10. It is no wonder we have heard rumors of external graphics solutions with their own power supplies. The devices would plug into a PCI Express slot that links a card (or up to 32 of them) into the interface."

Meet 'Johnny,' The MPAA's New Tool To Fight Piracy

From Extremetech:

"Guba.com, a video site that hosts user video, has developed "Johnny," a software tool to filter and block copyrighted content in cooperation with the Motion Picture Association of America. Guba which began offering downloadable Warner Bros. films in June, said its new "Johnny" tool will be made available to other hosting sites to block a list of copyrighted movies and TV shows that it received from the MPAA.

During Guba's early days, users came up with more and more sophisticated ways of manipulating images, such as adding text, and cropping the images. As they did so, the company began looking for ways to automate the detection process. The first image detection program turned images into MD5 hashes, a cryptographic tool also used to check for file integrity. The hash information treated the image as a graph, evaluating the image using a number of different attributes including image size, color variance, and other factors, Myers said, all mapped together.
Copyrighted images with hashes that matched other, unknown images were flagged for examination, and discarded if they violated the site's terms of service.

That program, known as "Johnny" works both on snippets of video, as well as trailers, half-hour episodes, or full-length movies, Myers said. The site receives a watch list of copyrighted movies and other materials from the MPAA, and cross-checks it against its hosted video, he said.

One of the keys that enables the process to work is the fact that Guba accepts video in a variety of formats, but transcodes it into its own file format. The automated process, which routes the video through the Guba servers, allows the company to create a hash during the process.

"Johnny" takes a series of snapshots, not of the video, but of the video hash, recorded every few minutes, and turned into a signature file. As new videos are uploaded, the files are cross-checked against the signature files."

AMD needs massive price drops to compete

From Tomshardware:

"For AMD's planned price drop for its dual-core processors to enable the company to regain its aggressive price/performance competitive position against Intel as it has promised, the company would have to reduce its existing Athlon 64 X2 and Athlon FX prices by between 38% and 56% for its various models, with cuts averaging about 51%. This estimate is based on a comprehensive price/performance review of Intel's soon-to-be-released Core 2 Extreme and Core 2 Duo processors, along with its existing Pentium D dual-core line, pitted against AMD's FX-62, FX-60, and Athlon 64 X2 processors in Tom's Hardware Guide tests."

The Daily Show revisits net neutrality

Tesla car pics

The Tesla Roadster, powered by more than 6,800 lithium-ion batteries, can go zero to 60 mph in about four seconds. Top speed: 130 mph.

Alfa Brera Flying car concept

What you're looking at could be the 2056 Alfa Brera with the optional hover package. Called the Alfa Romeo Spix flying concept car, it was designed by a 2-D/3-D artist from Belgium (we think) who posted pics of his creation along with an absolutely stunning video on CGfolks.com. Can you believe he does this for fun?

Ford Shelby Mustang GT500

Core 2 Duo Pricing

The Core 2: Intel Goes for the Jugular

The Core 2 E6700 is on the left, and the Pentium Extreme Edition 955 on the right. These are engineering samples, hence the "Intel Confidential" label.

Extremetech tells how Intel's core 2 pwns:

"After a long gestation period, Intel has successfully delivered on its promise of substantially faster CPUs that use significantly less power. For the near term, Core 2 looks like the must-have CPU for enthusiast and mainstream user alike.

So far, AMD's only short-term response seems to be its odd "4x4" technology, a hybrid dual-socket technology aimed at truly hardcore users. But even those hardcore users may simply opt for Core 2 Extreme. After all, it seems to be easily overclockable beyond 3GHz, and runs like a bat out of hell—and uses less power and generates less heat than a potential dual-socket FX-based system. Next year, we'll see the K8L line emerge from AMD. But for the interim, it's going to be a long, hot summer and a cold winter for AMD. About the only thing AMD can do is play the pricing game, which can only cut into profits.

That's not to say that everything will be clear sailing for Intel. The company still has a substantial inventory of NetBurst processors that it will need to work through. Demand is likely to be quite high for Core 2, and the issue of product allocation may rear its ugly head. To its credit, Intel has been busy building Core 2 CPUs, but high demand may still put a stress on production and distribution. Intel claims that boxed, retail processors should be on store shelves less than a month after the launch, while systems from most manufacturers will be available on day one.


That's a problem that Intel is probably happy to have at this point. Core 2 looks like a winner, and will likely be the shiny new bauble that performance enthusiasts love to have dangled in front of them. We're certainly impressed with what we've seen—high performance and low power utilization. And while Core 2 Extreme is pricey, the E6700 demonstrates that it's no slouch, either."

First room launched for space hotel