Fate of AMD’s Sea Islands obscured in the fog Reports surfaced last weekend that AMD’s graphics roadmap for 2013 would keep the Radeon HD 7000 series “stable” throughout the year. The news came out in an unusual way, via an interview with a Japanese website and then several tweets from AMD employees and the official Radeon Twitter feed. Naturally, we had questions about the state of things, so AMD held a conference call for the press today, in an attempt to clarify matters. Prior to last weekend, we expected AMD to be introducing a new generation of graphics cards within the next few months. The Tech Report
The true cost of a Raspberry Pi is more than you think As the Raspberry Pi craze sweeps the internet, you might have found yourself wanting to purchase the little computer to see what projects you can use it for. You may have thought to yourself that even if you can’t think of a nifty project, who cares, because the higher-end Model B is only $35. However, is it really that cheap when all is said and done? I recently ordered my first Raspberry Pi. I could never figure out what to do with it, but have wanted one simply because it’s a cheap, intriguing little computer. ExtremeTech
Locking the bad guys out with asymmetric encryption Encryption, the transformation of data into a form that prevents anyone unauthorized from understanding that data, is a fundamental technology that enables online commerce, secure communication, and the protection of confidential information. Encryption algorithms are the mathematical formulae for performing these transformations. You provide an encryption algorithm with a key and the data you want to protect (the plaintext), and it produces an encrypted output (the ciphertext). Ars Technica
How Nest’s control freaks reinvented the thermostat In 2007, Tony Fadell believed he could see the future. He was an Apple executive who had created the iPod and was a leading figure on the team that had worked on the iPhone, which the company was about to launch. He knew people would soon form attachments to the Internet-connected computers they carried in their pockets, and he kept thinking about that as he started another major project: building an energy-efficient dream home near Lake Tahoe. MIT Technology Review
Is frustration an essential part of game design? I’ve probably told you this story before, but a couple of weeks ago I almost destroyed my copy of DmC, Ninja Theory’s reboot of the Devil May Cry series. I was stuck on a boss fight with a giant demonic baby, and although I understood what I was supposed to do, I couldn’t do it. I just couldn’t. I knew I had to avoid the infant’s gigantic swipes, I knew I had to attack with aerial combos, I knew a weak spot would eventually open up. But I couldn’t do it. So I took the disc out and threw it. The Guardian
Full Story: Weekend tech reading: Deciphering AMD’s new GPU roadmap – TechSpot.