This is our agenda! If you’re attending the third edition of the Android Developer Conference don’t miss the opportunity to learn about Android on the Intel Architecture. We’re offering great technical sessions for Android developers: Developing and Optimizing for Atom Processor-Based Platforms Presenters: Ashok Emani, Rekha Raghu and Dave Valdovinos Date: May 15, 4:00-5:15pm In this session, you will learn about developing Android applications for Intel Atom processor-based tablets and smartphones. This session will address porting native libraries using x86 NDK, tips and tricks for identifying and removing performance bottlenecks, and identifying optimization opportunities to make your apps run best on Intel Atom-based tablets and smartphones. In addition, attendees will learn how to develop multi-platform apps with techniques that has been applied to a real life application. Attendees will also learn about valuable technical resources available to developers through the Android Developer Community at www.intel.com/software/android. Attendees should have a basic understanding of Android app development. Tips, Tools and Technology for Android on Intel Architecture Presenters: Josh Doss, Ashok Emani, Margaret LaBrecque and Dave Valdovinos Date: May 17, 11:45am-12:15pm Get on the ground floor of creating amazing apps for the mobile technology of tomorrow. When you optimize your app for Android on the Intel Architecture platform, you are opening the door to a new world of opportunities. In this session, you will learn about the Android Gingerbread and ICS x86 emulator image add-ons and how to use them in conjunction with the Intel Hardware Accelerated Execution Manager, allowing the emulator to run at near native speed. In addition, learn how the Intel Graphics Performance Analyzer for Android can help optimize games, media, and other graphics-intensive applications. Finally, get tips on how to create NDK-based Android apps for Intel Atom processor-based devices. And also many other activities such as: Some amazing demonstrations on our booth (#700) and also a short presentation as part of the “Lightning Talks”. Demos: 1. Android Developer Community program The team from the Intel® Developer Community for Android* will be on-hand to present, demonstrate and answer questions about the valuable resources available on this site. 2. Key apps on a smartphone or tablet A demonstration of Android apps that have been enabled for Intel® Atom™ processor based devices including smartphones and tablets. 3. Intel® GPA for Android A demonstration of the Intel® Graphics Performance Analyzer (GPA) for Android. GPA is an easy-to-use suite of optimization tools for analyzing and optimizing games, media, and other graphics intensive applications. 4. X86 emulator and HW acceleration manager A demonstration of the performance of an app on Android ICS using the Intel® Hardware Accelerated Execution Manager (Intel® HAXM). Intel® HAXM allows for faster Android emulation on Intel VT enabled systems. Lightning Talk: Device compatibility and App launch anxiety on Intel Atom processor based smartphones Presenter: Hemanth Kumar Date: Tuesday, May 15, 5:30 pm (As part of the Android Lightning Talks.)
Posts Tagged ‘Graphics’
Intel Software at AnDevCon
Posted in Software Tools 
Tags: ashok-emani, based-platforms, Graphics, intel, intel-atom, intel-graphics, manager, Mobile, Performance, session, technology, Tools 
Comments OffStrayBoots CEO Discusses Making $12 Per Game, And It’s Only On SMS!
Very rarely do we see gaming startups launch on the rather limited platform of SMS. Mobile games are all about the graphics, the functionality, and the ability to leverage the very best of technology through an app. But StrayBoots , a real-world scavenger hunt via text, has managed to generate $200,000 in revenue over the past 12 months, with nearly 50,000 paying customers. Oh, and did I mention that it’s all through SMS? The margins must be incredible, considering that CEO Avi Millman explained that each two- to three-hour scavenger hunt costs the user between $6 and $12 and it’s currently only available on one phone per game. The company also has deals in place with Time Out, Serious Eats, MyCityWay, and Leisure Pass North America, wherein the partnerships will create co-branded nightlife and food games that are to be promoted by both parties. It works rather simply: just go to the StrayBoots website and choose a city and a game category, like restaurants or museums. You’ll then be emailed a code for your game, and once you’re in the specified starting point, just text the code in to StrayBoots. You can go at whatever pace you’d like, and play on a team, against a team, or by yourself. The game currently supports walking tours in the following cities: New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Washington D.C., Seattle, Boston, Los Angeles, Nashville, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Portland, San Diego, and the U.K. iOS and Android apps are in the works.
Posted in Software Tools Tags: boston, chicago, Game, Graphics, partnerships, Philadelphia, seattle, startups, user Comments OffIntel Announces the New Intel® SDK for OpenCL* Applications 2012
In support of the recent announcement of the 3 rd Generation Intel® Core™ Processors , Intel has released the Intel® SDK for OpenCL* Applications 2012. For the first time, OpenCL* developers using Intel® architecture can utilize compute resources across both Intel® Processors and Intel® HD Graphics Driver 4000/2500 From a person who, for the last couple of years has closely followed the emergence of the OpenCL standard, this announcement was something worth waiting for. Less than a year ago, on this blog, I posted the news that the Intel® OpenCL SDK 1.1 gold was released , This was the first production OpenCL implementation from Intel targeting Intel® processors on Windows* OS. This current announcement is special, the Intel SDK for OpenCL Applications 2012 now supports not only the CPU but also the Intel HD Graphics 4000/2500 for Windows* 7 users. We’ve come a long way in a year. OpenCL on the 3 rd Generation Intel® Core Processor Family extends Intel’s line of tools and APIs on Intel platforms and adds interoperability with other graphics APIs like DirectX*, OpenGL* and Intel® Media SDK, directly on the Intel HD Graphics device. So what else is new in this release? A Single OpenCL* platform enables shared context for OpenCL applications running on both the CPU and Intel HD Graphics 4000/2500. The OpenCL platform with both CPU and HD Graphics devices is available seamlessly on the Intel® HD Graphics Drivers . Interoperability with the Intel Media SDK with no memory copy overhead Improved performance for OpenCL applications running on Intel® Xeon® Processors and Intel® Core™ Processors. This CPU support is also available for Linux* OS developers. Intel® SDK for OpenCL* applications development tools includes an offline compiler and a step-by-step OpenCL Kernel debugger (for CPU) integrated in Microsoft Visual Studio* 2010 integrated development environment. 10 OpenCL code samples, three of them new, are now available for independent download. The list above is just a sample of what is available with this new SDK. I recommend you read the product brief or watch the introduction video to get started with this new SDK. Download the SDK for free at www.intel.com/software/opencl and begin optimizing your applications for the 3 rd Generation Intel® Core™ Processors today. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter at @IntelOpenCL
Posted in Software Tools Tags: academic, announcement, game development, Graphics, graphics & media, graphics-driver, Microsoft, News, opencl, parallel programming, permanent-link, Processors, Server, vcsource_product_oclsdk, vcsource_type_event Comments OffFirst Commercial Intel Smartphone Lava XOLO X900 Launched Today
Today, the first Intel Smart phone XOLO X900 smartphone was launched in India http://www.xolo.in/ Information Week Report http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/04/its-official-intel-silicon-to-finally-appear-in-a-shipping-smartphone-in-india/ According the official XOLO website: “Superior Intel technology and Lava’s innovation come together to bring you the new XOLO X900, the first smartphone with Intel Inside®. Experience fast web browsing with the 1.6 GHz Intel processor. Based on Intel patented Hyper Threading technology this processor also enables smooth multi-tasking with optimum battery usage. A 4.03” hi-resolution LCD screen, dedicated HDMI output, full HD 1080p playback and dual speakers ensure an unmatched multimedia experience. Click up to 10 photos in less than a second on the 8MP HD camera which boasts of certain DSLR like features. With XOLO X900’s 400 MHz Graphics Processing Unit, 3D and HD gaming turn immersively realistic. Everything you have always wanted, and more, now comes in a blink into your pocket” LAVA, one of India’s fastest growing handset brands. XOLO X900, XOLO’s introductory offering, is the world’s first mobile phone with the power of Intel inside®.The stylish and sleek new XOLO X900 is a result of commitment to quality and innovation, designed to provide a superlative, immersing and engaging experience to address the need for a dynamic smartphone for today’s generation. The brand has invested in a state-of-the-art R&D Centre in Shenzhen (China) and Bangalore (India) Does Intel Chip use more power? To answer this, one of my colleague quickly looked at the battery life spec, and you can find them from below. Datas from LAVA and Apple webpage: XOLO Talk time (2G) up to 15.5 hours Talk time (3G) up to 7.8 hours Music playback (earphones) up to 43.9 hours Video playback (earphones) up to 6 hours Total standby time up to 14 days iPhone 4 Spec: • Talk time: Up to 8 hours on 3G, up to 14 hours on 2G (GSM) • Standby time: Up to 200 hours • Internet use: Up to 6 hours on 3G, up to 9 hours on Wi-Fi • Video playback: Up to 10 hours • Audio playback: Up to 40 hours This is pretty good considering a phone with 4.03” hi-resolution LCD screen, dedicated HDMI output, full HD 1080p playback!
Posted in Software Tools Tags: apple, audio, based-on-intel, colleague, Graphics, innovation-come, intel, Music, Power Comments OffRay Tracing, RenderMan, Radiosity, Antialiasing and Much, Much, More
A Collection of Luminaries Earlier this week, I had the privilege to attend an uncommon event in the field of computer graphics and visualization. There were some 130 people in attendance including: People who have written or contributed to approximately 20 papers accepted for publication in the upcoming SIGGRAPH 2012 proceedings 8 people who have won SIGGRAPH achievement awards, including two lifetime achievement award winners and four of the past eight “Significant New Researcher” award winners The primary inventors or originators of ray tracing (Turner Whitted), radiosity (Don Greenburg), antialiasing (Frank Crow), and RenderMan (Pat Hanrahan) Three or four dozen of the best computer graphics PhD students in the world Some of the comments I heard from people during the event were, “This is a collection of the finest graphics researchers in the world,” “Yesterday I saw SIGGRAPH Fast-Forward for 2012″, and “A good chunk of the people I like to see at SIGGRAPH all brought together in a nice, small group.” The Unpronounceable Acronym What was the nature of this event and what was its purpose? It was the 2012 retreat for people involved in the Intel Science and Technology Center for Visual Computing (ISTC-VC). This Intel-funded research consortium, launched a little over a year ago, has a mission to solve the biggest, baddest problems that remain in computer graphics. The ISTC-VC (and other ISTCs) were created by Intel Labs to focus on technology areas that align with its research focus areas. The lead university is Stanford, and the other universities involved are Washington, UC/Berkeley, UC/Davis, UC/Irvine, Princeton, Cornell, and Harvard. Others notable attendees included people from The Guildhall at SMU, University of Texas/Austin, KAUST, University of Illinois, Disney, Microsoft, Canada’s GRAND (Graphics, Animation and New Media) Network, and of course lots of people from Intel. Why was I there? As one of the SSG representatives to the ISTC effort, I was there to learn from the collected brainpower and share information about powerful visual computing tools and technologies such as Intel® Graphics Performance Analyzers (Intel® GPA) and Intel® Media SDK . I also manage SSG’s Visual Computing Academic Program which has become highly aligned with the ISTC-VC over the last 12 months. (I was a welcome participant to the meeting since I was able to bring T-shirts featuring the URL for the newly launched Visual Computing Source web site …it doesn’t hurt to come bearing gifts!) A Packed Agenda The event exceeded everyone’s expectations and the progress of the ISTC-VC over the past year astounded us all. The venue was the fantastic Oceano Hotel & Spa in Half Moon Bay, California. During the morning of the first day, we got updates on the research projects underway within the ISTC-VC’s four major research themes (Simulation, Perception, Content Creation, and Systems). There was so much progress that each of the theme leaders had to talk a mile a minute in order to get through the significant advances in the state of the art that have been made over the last twelve months. The afternoon session consisted of working meetings for each of the research themes. Over dinner, Turner Whitted of Microsoft Research painted a challenging vision for where the technology needs to go. He complemented the ISTC-VC, calling it a collection of world-class talent such as had never before been assembled. He urged students and researchers involved in the center to look upon it as both a challenge and an opportunity…great things are expected when so much great talent is working together to solve problems. The after-dinner reception featured demos and posters of the various projects (46 altogether!). Some SSG colleagues and I were able to show demos of Diablo III and Skyrim running on our 3rd generation Core (Ivy Bridge) processors, some cool games running on second-generation core Ultrabooks, and give demos of the latest version of our Intel® GPA tool suite. Unfortunately, this meant that I didn’t have any time to check out the many interesting posters and demos being shown, but I intend to follow up and learn more about them and share my thoughts in future blog posts. Lofty Goals Details of many of the research projects will be made public at SIGGRAPH 2012. Indeed, it is the aim of the ISTC-VC to publish its results in a timely fashion and put in the public domain all software and results. The intention is to accelerate the visual computing industry in a significant fashion over the next 3-5 years. I can’t wait to tell you more about these research projects, but the research agenda is no less ambitious than: Develop a virtual human with appearance and behavior that is indistinguishable from reality Revolutionize photography Build tools that allow users of all skill levels to create compelling 3D objects and environments Build models the size and complexity of large, real world cities and render them at interactive rates Automatically extract semantic information from images and videos Develop methods for real-time sound generation Develop methods to bring cinematic quality natural phenomenon (water, smoke, fire) to interactive games Make virtual worlds an application platform as powerful as the world wide web An explicit goal for all of the projects is help Intel learn what is needed for the graphics hardware and software of the future. Working together with so many bright minds in academia, Intel hopes to more quickly enable the entire computing industry to move to a place where astonishing interactive visual experiences are commonplace. Stay Tuned One thing about top-notch university researchers – they’re not afraid to take on daunting challenges. Whether they ultimately succeed or not, they are undoubtedly going to make key breakthroughs in advancing the state of the art in visual computing technology. I’m going to tag along for the ride and share some of the details of these projects with you…it might get bumpy at times, but it’s sure going to be a lot of fun! A veritable who's who of computer graphics researchers gathered for the ISTC-VC 2012 Retreat
Posted in Software Tools Tags: Graphics, graphics & media, media, Nature, People, turner-whitted, university, world Comments OffTransforming the laptop gaming experience@GDC 2012
Next week I’ll be in San Francisco hoping the weather forecast is right and we get 7 days of sun, and the reason for my stroke of luck is I’m giving a talk on creating a better gaming user experience on laptops. With portable PC sales rising and now surpassing desktop by some margin ( See the latest IDC forecasts below) its more important than ever to ensure PC games work well on laptops. This session will cover a range of topics from getting the graphics settings correct out of the box, the relationship between a bath and how Turbo mode works ( duck optional extra ) together with optimising a game to improve battery life, throw in a demo of the latest power related features of Intel Graphics Performance Analyzer and it should be a productive hour. If that isn’t enough to keep you indoors we will also raffle of a 300Gb SSD to a member of the audience. Hope to see you next week. Session Description: Ultrabooks are current standard bearer for a mobile PC market numbering 100’s of millions units a year. Giving the user the best possible game experience on a mobile platform has its own set of unique challenges ranging from optimizing for battery life, to keeping the user informed of the state of the system all the way to dealing with new form factors and input sensors available. So how do you tap into the potential market and ensure your game takes advantage of the platform? The aim of this session is to equip the developer with the tools needed to address these kinds of issues. You can find me Thursday 10:00-11:00 at Room 3005, West Hall, 3rd Fl I’ll also be down the Intel booth manning the samples kiosk on Wednesday between 10:00-12:00 and Thursday afternoon between 16:00-18:00, feel free to drop by and ask any questions you might have.
Posted in Software Tools Tags: Developer, Game, gdc2012, giving-the-user, Graphics, improve-battery, intel-graphics, Relationship, Tools, user, user-experience, Weather, well-on-laptops Comments OffWhy Mobile Game Devs Should Port To Mac OS -Advice From Cut The Rope’s ZeptoLab
Last week, a Mountain Lion roared “Mac is the next big gaming platform.” Apple is bringing Game Center to Mac , it will support cross-platform iPhone vs. Mac play, and the Mac App Store will likely become more prominent. It’s time for mobile developers to decide if they’ll bring their games to Mac OS, and how they’ll port their controls and levels. Otherwise they risk having to claw their way up much more competitive charts. Tomorrow, after 100 million downloads across platforms, ZeptoLab will release its hit Cut The Rope for Mac OS. After hooking me up with a pre-release download, the Moscow-based founders gave me the low down on the biggest challenges of porting to Mac OS, and why they think it’s critical that mobile developers don’t get left behind on the small screen. Why Port? “We see opportunity with the Mac App Store because it’s not as occupied as the mobile App Store. There are several quite nice games, but the competition is not as huge” said ZeptoLab’s twin brother founders Semyon and Efim Voinov. Angry Birds and Plants Vs. Zombies are already available, but other staples like Fruit Ninja, Words With Friends, and Where’s My Water are absent. Without these apps occupying the charts, there are places for other developers to swoop in and get discovered. As expensive console and PC games like Call Of Duty and Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic appear in the store as well, paid apps ported from mobile may be able to get away with charging higher prices. On a phone $5 may seem steep, but the bigger screen size and history of $50 disc-based games may make $5 appear cheap on the Mac App Store. “We started quite a while ago doing this in-house. It took a bit longer than we expected, but from a technical standpoint the process of porting to Mac was pretty straightforward. The tools are pretty good. The majority of work was on the design and art side.” From Touch To Trackpad In Cut The Rope, users cut ropes attached to pieces of candy, working with gravity, momentum, and other forces to guide the sweets into the mouth of a hungry baby dinosaur named Om Nom.”It was challenging porting to Mac OS, because Cut The Rope was intended for touch controls” the Voinovs admit. “It’s tricky to move from one point of the screen to another very quickly. It’s pretty natural with fingers, but different with the mouse.” When the game was ported to HTML5, some laptop users reported difficulty holding down the mouse click button while using another finger for precise movements. To keep the original feel intact but give players an optimized control scheme for the track pad and mouse, the Voinovs added the option to hover near a rope to highlight it and click to cut it, rather than swiping. If it helps, users can leave it on, or disable it if they find it too different from the mobile version. During testing, the team noticed that levels where you had to make several quick cuts could leave users cursing the controls. To compensate, they made the physics of the Mac version work just a little slower. Developers should determine which controls might be harder with a mouse and consider adding similar options, keyboard shortcuts, or on-screen buttons that make use of the extra real estate. If those aren’t enough, similar tweaks can be made to a game’s physics to reduce player frustration. High Resolution Landscape Level Design Meanwhile, many of Cut The Ropes levels were designed for a portrait orientation screen, while most Mac monitors stay fixed in the landscape position. The Voinovs took a methodical approach, playing each level of their mobile game and noting which were too tall and would need lay out adjustments. “We realized it was more half of the levels”, making level redesign a significant time-suck. Other devs should factor this into their decisions to port and release schedules. Bigger screens also require higher resolution artwork. Rather than seeing this as busy work, ZeptoLab took the chance to differentiate the Mac OS experience. “We made sure it would look great, really crisp and sharp. It makes it special and give people who already played on mobile a reason [to buy the Mac OS version]. You can see all the little details of the graphics in the game.” Now as the team makes new level packs, they’re using the Mac OS resolution standards that are much easier to scale down than scale up. Diversifying Revenue Streams “This is our first experience releasing a Mac OS game. We believe it will develop into a bigger thing over time” Semyon told me. ZeptoLab will be closely watching the success of the game, but is simultaneously seeking other revenue sources. Last week it released Cut The Rope for the Barnes & Noble Nook reader. Apple TV and Siri are two other big platforms that developers should have on their radars. At the New York Toy Fair, ZeptoLab announced licensing deals with Mattel, Hasbro, JAKKS Pacific, and Li & Fung to create Om Nom plush dolls, a board game, and clothing line based on Cut The Rope. “We’re trying to keep the balance. Merchandise is important, but there’s no merchandise without a good product” the brothers say. Merch has been huge for Rovio ‘s Angry Birds, and now Zynga has struck licensing deals , legitimizing offline revenue streams. Finally, while Cut The Rope is in 4th on the all-time App Store paid app chart, ZeptoLab is eager to invent new intellectual property, ”We have this creative urge to do cool new things.” Developers shouldn’t limit themselves to porting existing games. The Mac OS gaming platform comes with unique characteristics like the trackpad to be designed for, rather than around. “Cut the ropes to your imagination” a some hack writer might say. I’ll just leave you with, “Go make people happy, that’s your art.” For more game design coverage, check out: How Evil Monkeys Chased Temple Run To App Store #1 – thoughts on freemium vs premium from the game’s developers
Posted in Software Tools Tags: angry-birds, Design, Game, Graphics, imagination, Mobile, physics, water, words, zeptolab Comments OffIntel Aids Search for Lost DaVinci Masterpiece
In the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, Italy, a feverish search occurs seemingly in slow motion. In order to make progress in the search, a team of researchers from the University of California/San Diego has been inventing a brand new field of work called art forensics. Armed with innovative new portable sensing devices and Intel technology, they are searching for a lost masterpiece by Leonardo da Vinci called The Battle of Anghiari . This impressive painting, considered by some to be da Vinci’s greatest artistic accomplishment, was lost more than 450 years ago. Lost: The Masterpiece of the Renaissance The great mural was painted by da Vinci in 1505 to commemorate a battle in 1440. His artistic rival, Michaelangelo, was commissioned to paint a mural on the opposite side of the hall. (Imagine these two artists in the same room, not just two of their masterpieces in the same room!). Michaelangelo did not finish his project. He had sketched his painting out, but had just begun the painting when he was invited back to Rome to build the tomb of Pope Julius II. A rival artist, Bartolommeo Bandinelli, destroyed Michaelangelo’s sketch in a fit of jealousy in 1512. Peter Paul Rubens's copy of The Battle of Anghiari (from Wikipedia). Da Vinci did not finish his painting either, but he got much further than Michaelangelo. His painting depicted the power, fury, and intense emotions of four horsemen engaged in battle. Always experimenting with new techniques, da Vinci tried to apply oil colors to the wall. The result was less than satisfactory. The paint dripped and only the lower part of the painting could be dried quickly enough to achieve the desired result. Da Vinci subsequently abandoned the project. Nevertheless, da Vinci’s painting was considered the masterpiece of the Renaissance. Numerous copies of The Battle of Anghiari were made over the course of the next 50 years and others praised the work in commentaries and diaries. Many sketches by da Vinci (“cartoons”) that served as studies for the mural still exist. An engraving made in 1553 by Lorenzo Zacchia was used in 1603 by Peter Paul Rubens as the basis for a copy of the central section of the mural. Rubens’ second-hand copy of da Vinci’s painting is in the Louvre. Eventually, the hall was enlarged and remodeled by Giorgio Vasari and Vasari painted six new murals over the east and west walls of the hall. It is assumed that the famous, unfinished works of da Vinci and Michaelangelo were lost during this process, as they were not seen again. Seek and Ye Shall Find Scaffolding covers a wall in the Hall of Five Hundred in the Palazzo Vecchio where a team of researchers are searching for a lost painting by Leonardo da Vinci Some people, included UCSD’s Maurizio Seracini, believe that the da Vinci masterpiece might still exist. Vasari, who painted the murals that now adorn the hall, had high praise for the da Vinci fresco, so Seracini thinks it is unlikely that Vasari destroyed the mural during the hall’s renovation. A clue to this effect is in the Vasari mural, 12 meters above the ground. The only text on the entire painting is on a green flag held by a Florentine soldier. The text says “Cerca trova”—”He who seeks, finds.” Seracini has taken this advice to heart. An initial non-destructive 3D survey of the hall used surface penetrating radar and thermographic cameras to create a three-dimensional model of the space. This process led to the discovery of a wall built by Vasari in front of the east wall where The Battle of Anghiari was located. A gap of a couple of centimeters was discovered between the two walls, supporting the theory that the lost masterpiece is still intact and located behind Vasari’s mural. Of course, Vasari’s mural is a more-than-400 year-old masterpiece too, so there is understandable reticence by the involved government and cultural agencies to do anything that would cause irreversible damage. This is where the UCSD researchers and Intel technology come into play. 21st Century Technology Aids Search As part of its Visual Computing Academic Program, Intel’s University Program Office supplied 50 quad-core Intel Core i7 Extreme 3.33 GHz processors to Falko Kuester of UCSD. The parallel processing performance of these powerful processors has allowed UCSD to tackle a series of unique and transformative visual computing projects. Kuester’s team is currently using these CPUs to “Create (Compute) a Future for the Past” as part of its cultural heritage diagnostics research and its field sites in Italy and Jordan. Multiple nodes loaded with Intel CPUs are on-site in Palazzo Vecchio driving UCSD’s visual analytics/visual computing environment. Small holes drilled through the Vasari mural to the back wall have revealed fragments of pigment on the far wall that might be part of the da Vinci mural. The UCSD team is therefore developing new non-invasive sensing and analysis techniques to try to “peer through” the front wall and visualize the surface of the back wall. Maurizio Seracini, Falko Kuester, and the other members of the UCSD cultural heritage diagnostics research team on site in Florence, Italy The National Geographic Society is also sponsoring the search and is documenting the entire process. Our UCSD colleagues indicate that National Geographic will air a documentary on the project on January 15 (but I don’t yet see this program on the guide for the National Geographic channel). The search for a lost da Vinci masterpiece…it is a riddle wrapped in an enigma shrouded in mystery. Intel technology is at the heart of the search. And the results will of the search will soon be revealed in a National Geographic TV special. Further information Home page for UCSD’s cultural heritage diagnostics effort National Geographic’s blog for The Battle of Anghiari Project CBS 60 Minutes 2008 story on Maurizio Seracini’s search Wired magazine’s 2007 interview with Seracini
Posted in Software Tools Tags: anghiari, art, california, Graphics, Guide, intel, italy, Office, parallel programming, project, research, space, Theory, ucsd Comments OffIntel(r) AMT KVM not Working
What do you do when you are ready to get started working with Intel Active Management Technology and you are excited about the recent inclusion of a software based (AMT) KVM feature and you can’t get it to work? A while back I wrote a blog –> HERE SCSDiscovery.exe /Output file test.xml SystemDiscovery /NoRegistry test.xml will be a debug file – look for another file named as follows: FQDN.domainname. 2. Is Intel AMT Enabled? Open the xml file from running the Discovery tool an look for the following lines: 7.1.4 7.0.0.1144 7.1.4.1068 true You want to make sure the system’s version of Intel AMT supports KVM and it has a valid MEI (HECI) Driver/Firmware and that Intel AMT has been enabled/configured. (Check! Check/Check! Check!) All version numbers should match up for the major number (7 here.) If your system is passing all the tests so far, you can move down to the next step of verifying that KVM is enabled and supported. 3. Is your system KVM capable? Take another look at that XML file. Look for the following entries: true true (IDER must be enabled ) false true false (Not a reliable indicator!!) True if the KVM redirection interface is supported in the Intel AMT Firmware. IDE-Redirection must be enabled in the bios in order to use the KVM feature using the Redirection ports. True if the Keyboard Video Mouse (KVM) redirection interface is enabled in Intel AMT (This refers to the listener and if you have enabled Intel AMT but have not yet configured your KVM connections, this will show up as false .) True if KVM redirection is enabled in the MEBx of the Intel AMT device True if the BIOS of the platform supports KVM redirection. This entry is not always reported correctly – as you can see on my system it indicates false . But my system is KVM capable. It is important to note that the Discovery tool may indicate that your system can do KVM even if you do not have the right graphics card – that’s why you check for that first. 4. Configuration Follow the guides in the SDK documentation . Search for the following topic: (Setting Up the Integrated Viewer Application) Note that you need to configure the listener/ports/password. Port 5900 is the IANA port reserved for Virtual Network Computing (VNC). By enabling port 5900, all traffic to this port is routed to Intel AMT for KVM processing. The RFB protocol requires a password, so the first time an application enables port 5900, it should also set the RFB password (which must be 8 characters exactly.) KVM can also use the Redirection Port. If, after all of this, you are still having problems, post your question on our forum .
Posted in Software Tools Tags: amt, bios, display, driver, Graphics, integrated, integrated graphics, intel, intel amt, intel sw partner program, intel-active, Management, Tool Comments OffSisterhood of CS
It might seem a bit ironic me being bursting with pride at being a member of a sisterhood, what with me being a guy who never even had a sister, but I am. The Sisterhood of CS is the fifth Computer Science club for which I am advisor. Perhaps being advisor means I am not really a member, but you get the idea. To tell you the truth, I never expected to be involved with forming computer clubs, since the only club I’d ever willingly joined was the Columbia Record Club. Looking back it makes perfect sense, which I suppose why I am writing this blog entry to advocate you considering to do the same. I’ll tell you how I got here. Two years ago I decided to tackle head-on students’ frequent first question to me being “When can I learn how to program video games.” To do so effectively requires the equivalent of a BS in computer science, hence my suggesting students take my series of courses. I decided to recruit some questing students to form what became the “Contra Costa College Graphics and Gaming Guild” (C3G3). Over the last couple of yeas they used several game engines, several modeling programs, and several bit graphics programs. What surprised me was that the guild attracted a wide variety of students, including several very talented artists. They taught themselves; trained each other. I learned that a club, with no grades associated, allowed students a unique opportunity to freely explore with guidance from me as advisor. Paul Steinberg and I film the “Teach Parallel” interviews, Paul from the Intel Hillsboro studio in Portland, and me from either my Intro to C++ course in the Fall, or my Data Structures course in the Spring. It motivated students to request a Parallel Programming Club, where again students began exploring topics in an ungraded, self-driven way outside of formal classes. The two clubs had some overlap in membership, but were largely different. If you’d asked me before they’d come to be, I’d have said there could be no justification for two CS clubs; one would suffice. I was delighted with where the club went. We received over twenty Lenovo laptops to explore Meego, and explore we did, and explore we continue to do with Meego morphing into Tizon and HTML5. We have a cool app in the works, which may find its niche among all the other apps contending for use and 15 minutes of fame. They are also collaborating with Leo Ferres’ students in the University of Concepcion in Chile to solve an extended Project Euler Problem 4 on palindromic integers. The students are currently working independently, using the Intel Manycore machine for poduction runs. One representative from each school will be on Teach Parallel, to discuss progress, and then the students will collaborate together. Paul and I hope to extend his idea with more problems and more schools. I have been goading my students for years to solve more Project Euler problems collectively than I have. These problems require a knowledge of mathematics and computer science, with sufficient algorithmic experience wisdom to craft a solution. I know they will beat me, but I am trying to set as high a bar as possible. One student took up the charge, and formed a Computational Math Club to do just this. It is delightful to be advisor to a group of students striving to beat my record. It encapsulates exactly what delights me about teaching, to help train people to better academically and professionally than I am. Several of these students are also collaborating with the Parallel Programming Club on the Chile problem. Once again I am amazed that there could be 3 separate groups of students all working on distinct aspects of Computer Science. This brings us full circle back to the Sisterhood of CS that formed last weekend primarily by the five young women in my intro to CS course, along with a couple of motivated graduates of my classes. The current plan is to bring in guest speakers, develop mutual support structures, educate me on what I need to do to better support young women in CS, and develop some applications in the ScienceSim based metaverse. We met today for the first time today, Saturday Oct 6 at 2pm in Second Life, because that was the only time we could meet around school and work schedules. I was wearing some black wings from a company long out of existence in Second Life; both students wanted to learn how to make their own. Yessssssss! Daedalus would be pleased with their sincerity, for they will certainly not be using wax. May they fly high. New avatar I did say we have five clubs. I was adopted by the Anime Club who needed an advisor. The president of the club is a former student who competed in both SC Education and TeraGrid programming contests. It will be interesting to see if a project involving all five clubs emerges. I am sometimes exhausted by the success of these clubs, but the dynamism and life of these club comes right back and infuses the classroom. All of a sudden some students are seeing a larger context for what we are doing in class. It is no longer just academic for them. The academics and academic challenges are being embraced with eyes more open to possibilities: a self-induced wake-up call. Students not in the clubs are also positively affected, as to be expected, by the other students in the room. It is a wonderful experiment in learning. Stay tuned for more as the story unfolds.
Posted in Software Tools Tags: academic, computational math, gaming, Graphics, intro, parallel programming, project-euler, spring, teach-parallel Comments Off