Light-based memory chip is the first ever to store data permanently

 

A schematic of the device, showing its structure and the propagation of light through it. Credit: Image courtesy of University of Oxford The world's first entirely light-based memory chip to store data permanently has been developed by material scientists at Oxford University in collaboration with scientists at Karlsruhe, Munster and Exeter. The device, which makes use of materials used in CDs and DVDs, could help dramatically improve the speed of modern computing. Today's computers are held back by the relatively slow transmission of electronic data between the processor and the memory. 'There's no point using faster processors if the limiting factor is the shuttling of information to-and-from the memory -- the so-called von-Neumann bottleneck,' explains Professor Harish Bhaskaran, who led the research. 'But we think using light can significantly speed this up.' Simply bridging the processor-memory gap with photons isn't efficient, though, because of the need to convert them back into electronic signals at each end. Instead, memory and processing capabilities would need be light-based too. Researchers have tried to create this kind of photonic memory before, but the results have always been volatile, requiring power in order to store data. For many applications -- such as computer disk drives -- it's essential to be able to store data indefinitely, with or without power. Now, an international team of researchers including researchers from Oxford University's Department of Materials has produced the world's first all-photonic nonvolatile memory chip. The new device uses the phase-change material Ge2Sb2Te5 (GST) -- the same as that used in rewritable CDs and DVDs -- to store data. This material can be made to assume an amorphous state, like glass, or a crystalline state, like a metal, by using either electrical or optical pulses. In a paper published in Nature Photonics, the researchers describe the device they've created, which uses a small section of GST on top of a silicon nitride ridge, known as a waveguide, to carry light. The team has shown that intense pulses of light sent through the waveguide can carefully change the state of the GST. An intense pulse causes it to momentarily melt and quickly cool, causing it to assume an amorphous structure; a slightly less-intense pulse can put it into an crystalline state. Later, when light with much lower intensity is sent through the waveguide, the difference in the state of the GST affects how much light is transmitted. The team can measure that difference to identify its state -- and in turn read off the presence of information in the device as a 1 or 0. 'This is the first ever truly non-volatile integrated optical memory device to be created,' explains Clarendon Scholar and DPhil student Carlos Ríos, one of the two lead authors of the paper. 'And we've achieved it using established materials that are known for their long-term data retention -- GST remains in the state that it's placed in for decades.' By sending different wavelengths of light through the waveguide at the same time -- a technique referred to as wavelength multiplexing -- the team also showed that they could use a single pulse to write and read to the memory at the same time. 'In theory, that means we could read and write to thousands of bits at once, providing virtually unlimited bandwidth,' explains Professor Wolfram Pernice of the University of Munster. The researchers have also found that different intensities of strong pulses can accurately and repeatedly create different mixtures of amorphous and crystalline structure within the GST. When lower intensity pulses were sent through the waveguide to read the contents of the device, they were also able to detect the subtle differences in transmitted light, allowing them to reliably write and read off eight different levels of state composition -- from entirely crystalline to completely amorphous. This multi-state capability could provide memory units with more than the usual binary information of 0 and 1, allowing a single bits of memory to store several states or even perform calculations themselves instead of at the processor. 'This is a completely new kind of functionality using proven existing materials,' explains Professor Bhaskaran. 'These optical bits can be written with frequencies of up to one gigahertz and could provide huge bandwidths. This is the kind of ultra-fast data storage that modern computing needs.' Now, the team is working on a number of projects that aim to make use of the new technology. They're particularly interested in developing a new kind of electro-optical interconnect, which will allow the memory chips to directly interface with other components using light, rather than electrical signals. Story Source: The above post is reprinted from materials provided by University of Oxford.Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference: Carlos Ríos, Matthias Stegmaier, Peiman Hosseini, Di Wang, Torsten Scherer, C. David Wright, Harish Bhaskaran, Wolfram H. P. Pernice. Integrated all-photonic non-volatile multi-level memory. Nature Photonics, 2015; DOI:10.1038/nphoton.2015.182 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/10/151004112856.htm

BBC unveils final design for pocket-sized micro:bit computer

 

The pocket computer has a programmable array of 25 red LED lights, two buttons, and a built-in motion sensor. (Credit: YouTube / ARM) The BBC showed off the final design for its micro:bit computer this week. The pint-sized computer, which has a Raspberry Pi feel, will be given out to one million schoolchildren in the UK in October of this year, giving them the opportunity to learn how to code at an early age. “We happily give children paint brushes when they’re young, with no experience – it should be exactly the same with technology," Sinead Rocks, Head of BBC Learning said. "It’s our most ambitious education initiative for 30 years. And as the micro:bit is able to connect to everything from mobile phones to plant pots and Raspberry Pis, this could be for the internet-of-things what the BBC Micro was to the British gaming industry.” The final device is a little different than the prototype we saw in March. The pocket computer has a programmable array of 25 red LED lights in a 5 x 5 array, two buttons, and a built-in motion sensor. Rather than use a watch battery, like the previous version, the final model will require the use of an add-on power pack to work without a power outlet nearby. That power pack will take AA batteries, making the device simple to power, but also a bit too hefty now to be used as a wearable device. Other features include a built-in compass (magnetometer) so the device can tell which direction its facing, five input and output rings to connect the micro:bit to other devices using cables, and Bluetooth connectivity to connect to other devices wirelessly. Children who receive the device will be able to learn simple coding for the device from a special micro:bit website, which will give children the ability to virtually test drive their creations before transferring them over to the micro:bit. Sample projects include using the LEDs to create patterns and letters. The micro:bit will be passed out free in October to children age 11 and 12 who are currently enrolled in Year 7 in school, courtesy of a number of partners for the project, including Microsoft and Samsung. After that initial run, the computers will go on sale in the UK and elsewhere by the end of the year.   Source: BBC

5 Simple Fixes for Most Computer Problems

 

Try These Ideas Before You Pay for Computer Service (and You May Not Have To!) You may have already decided that the computer problem you're dealing with is too hard to fix yourself, or at least not something you're interested spending your time doing. I'd argue that you should almost always try to fix your own computer problem, but I understand if you're just completely against it. No hard feelings. However, before you call tech support, or run off to the computer repair shop, I get one more shot to convince you to at least try something before you pay someone else for help. Having worked in the computer service industry for years, I'm very familiar with the simple things that most people overlook, things that could completely eliminate the need to have a computer worked on at all. You could quite literally save hundreds of dollars, and an equally valuable amount of frustration, by following some of the really easy things below. 1.  Restart Your Computer It's a long running joke that the only thing tech support folks know how to do is tell people to restart their computers. I've had the displeasure of working with a few "professionals" that might have inspired that joke, but please don't overlook this extraordinarily simple step. More times than you would believe, I would visit a customer's home or business, listen to a long story about an issue, and then simply restart the computer to fix the problem. Contrary to accounts otherwise, I do not have a magic touch. Computers sometimes encounter very temporary issues that a restart, which clears its memory and reruns processes, solves. How Do I Restart My Computer? Make sure you restart your computer at least one time before scheduling computer repair with anyone. The problem, assuming its of a certain nature, might simply go away. Tip: If the computer problem you're having means that restarting properly isn't possible, powering off and then back on accomplishes the same thing. More » 2.  Clear Your Browser's Cache Yet another joke, albeit a more recent one, is that clearing your browser's cache, the collection of recently visited pages that's saved to your computer's hard drive, is the fix for all possible Internet problems. That's certainly an exaggeration - clearing cache won't fix every broken website or Internet related problem - but it is often helpful. Clearing the cache is very easy to do. Every browser has a straightforward method for doing so, even if it is hidden a few layers deep in a menu. If you have any sort of Internet related issue, especially if it's impacting only some pages, be sure to clear the cache before taking your computer in for service. How Do I Clear My Browser's Cache? Tip: While most browsers refer to cache as cache, Internet Explorer refers to this collection of saved pages as Temporary Internet Files. More » 3.  Scan for Viruses & Other Malware No doubt scanning for a virus infection was the first thing that came to mind if a virus or other malicious program (collectively called malware) made itself obvious. Unfortunately, most problems caused by malware don't always clearly point to an infection. It's great if your antivirus program warns you of a problem, but it won't always. Often times, virus-caused problems appear as general computer sluggishness, random error messages, frozen windows, and things like that. Before you take your computer in for any reason, be sure to run a full malware scan using whatever antivirus software you're running. How To Scan Your Computer for Viruses & Other Malware This tutorial is really helpful if you're not sure what you're doing, don't have antivirus software (I link to several free options), can't access Windows, or can't run a scan for some reason. More »  4.  Reinstall the Program That's Causing Trouble A lot of computer problems are software-specific, meaning that they only happen when starting, using, or stopping a particular program that's installed. These sorts of problems can make it seem like your whole computer is falling part, especially if you use the offending program a lot, but the solution is often very simple: reinstall the program. How Do I Reinstall a Software Program? Reinstalling a program means to uninstall it, and then install it again from scratch. Every program has an automated process for removing itself from, as well as installing itself onto, your computer. If you think the problem you're experiencing is software-specific, gather up the original installation disc or download the program again, and then reinstall it. Check out the tutorial if you've never reinstalled a software program or you run in to trouble. More » 5.  Delete Your Browser's Cookies No, there aren't real cookies in your computer (wouldn't that be nice?) but there are tiny files called cookies which are sometimes the cause of problems browsing the web. Like the cached files mentioned in #2 above, the browser stores these files to make surfing the web easier. How Do I Delete Cookies From My Browser? If you're having problems logging in to one or more websites, or you see a lot of error messages when browsing that other people don't seem to see, be sure to clear your browser's cookies before you pay for computer repair. More » Some More Ideas Before You Pay for Support I know, I know, we've been over this. You don't want to fix it yourself! But before you pay someone for help, I wanted to let you know that I'm available to help out as well, and I don't charge anything at all! Just head over to my Get More Help page for more on that, as well as some other free options for support. from: www.about.com

This is really very useful

 

This is very useful

Instant-start computers possible with new breakthrough

 

A team at Cornell University led by postdoctoral associate John Heron, who works jointly with Darrell Schlom, professor of Industrial Chemistry in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and Dan Ralph, professor of Physics in the College of Arts and Sciences, has made a breakthrough in that direction with a room-temperature magnetoelectric memory device. Equivalent to one computer bit, it exhibits the holy grail of next-generation nonvolatile memory: magnetic switchability, in two steps, with nothing but an electric field. Their results were published online Dec. 17 in Nature, along with an associated "News and Views" article. "The advantage here is low energy consumption," Heron said. "It requires a low voltage, without current, to switch it. Devices that use currents consume more energy and dissipate a significant amount of that energy in the form of heat. That is what's heating up your computer and draining your batteries." The researchers made their device out of a compound called bismuth ferrite, a favorite among materials mavens for a spectacularly rare trait: It's both magnetic -- like a fridge magnet, it has its own, permanent local magnetic field -- and also ferroelectric, meaning it's always electrically polarized, and that polarization can be switched by applying an electric field. Such so-called ferroic materials are typically one or the other, rarely both, as the mechanisms that drive the two phenomena usually fight each other. This combination makes it a "multiferroic" material, a class of compounds that has enjoyed a buzz over the last decade or so. Paper co-author Ramamoorthy Ramesh, Heron's Ph.D. adviser at University of California, Berkeley, first showed in 2003 that bismuth ferrite can be grown as extremely thin films and can exhibit enhanced properties compared to bulk counterparts, igniting its relevance for next-generation electronics. Because it's multiferroic, bismuth ferrite can be used for nonvolatile memory devices with relatively simple geometries. The best part is it works at room temperature; other scientists, including Schlom's group, have demonstrated similar results with competing materials, but at unimaginably cold temperatures, like 4 Kelvin (-452 Fahrenheit) -- not exactly primed for industry. "The physics has been exciting, but the practicality has been absent," Schlom said. A key breakthrough by this team was theorizing, and experimentally realizing, the kinetics of the switching in the bismuth ferrite device. They found that the switching happens in two distinct steps. One-step switching wouldn't have worked, and for that reason theorists had previously thought what they have achieved was impossible, Schlom said. But since the switching occurs in two steps, bismuth ferrite is technologically relevant. The multiferroic device also seems to require an order of magnitude lower energy than its chief competitor, a phenomenon called spin transfer torque, which Ralph also studies, and that harnesses different physics for magnetic switching. Spin transfer torque is already used commercially but in only limited applications. They have some work to do; for one thing they made just a single device, and computer memory involves billions of arrays of such devices. They need to ramp up its durability, too. But for now, proving the concept is a major leap in the right direction. "Ever since multiferroics came back to life around 2000, achieving electrical control of magnetism at room temperature has been the goal," Schlom said.

Flow is designed to pick up where the mouse leaves off

 

Flow aims to change the way users interact with their devices Image Gallery (5 images) When it comes to interacting with our devices, the mouse and the touchscreen are the predominant methods. Senic, the team behind a new device called Flow, is aiming to change that by adding quite a few new ways for users to interact with their computers, smartphones, and tablets. Flow is designed to be used in three ways. First, users can tap the top of the device. The second method is actually done in the air over Flow, as it reads users' hand movements and translates them to actions. The third interaction type comes from rotating the metal ring around Flow. Haptic feedback is used here to help the user feel precise increments of movement. Each of these actions can be customized to perform all kinds of different actions on a user's devices. Some examples of how Flow could be used include swiping over it to skip songs, or rotating its ring to zoom in and out while working in Photoshop. For video editors, the rotation could serve as a jog wheel for small movements through video files. There are a lot of possibilities, but it all comes down to whether users actually feel that a mouse and keyboard are incapable of getting these jobs done well enough. Senic already has support for a number of existing apps and devices, with plans to continue to add more as time goes on. So far, some popular ones listed include Spotify, Photoshop, Arduino, and Pandora. If an app is not officially supported by Senic, it doesn't matter, because the platform is open, meaning programmers can add support for almost anything once the device is released. This means that, provided Flow catches on, the possible uses for it could be far-reaching. As for the hardware itself, Bluetooth LE is used for communicating with connected computers and other devices. At first, only Macs will be supported, but the team is rapidly working on support for Android, iOS, Linux, and Windows. The device's battery should last about four months, and it is replaceable. Senic is seeking funding on Indiegogo to bring Flow to market. It is seeking US$50,000, and is about halfway there as of this writing. Backers who would like to preorder a Flow for a planned June 2015 delivery can do so for a minimum pledge of $99. The Indiegogo pitch video below provides more information and shows Flow in use. Sources: Senic, Indiegogo

Computers that teach by example: New computer system enables pattern-recognition systems to convey what they learn to humans

 

Computers are good at identifying patterns in huge data sets. Humans, by contrast, are good at inferring patterns from just a few examples. In a paper appearing at the Neural Information Processing Society's conference next week, MIT researchers present a new system that bridges these two ways of processing information, so that humans and computers can collaborate to make better decisions. The system learns to make judgments by crunching data but distills what it learns into simple examples. In experiments, human subjects using the system were more than 20 percent better at classification tasks than those using a similar system based on existing algorithms. "In this work, we were looking at whether we could augment a machine-learning technique so that it supported people in performing recognition-primed decision-making," says Julie Shah, an assistant professor of aeronautics and astronautics at MIT and a co-author on the new paper. "That's the type of decision-making people do when they make tactical decisions -- like in fire crews or field operations. When they're presented with a new scenario, they don't do search the way machines do. They try to match their current scenario with examples from their previous experience, and then they think, 'OK, that worked in a previous scenario,' and they adapt it to the new scenario." In particular, Shah and her colleagues -- her student Been Kim, whose PhD thesis is the basis of the new paper, and Cynthia Rudin, an associate professor of statistics at the MIT Sloan School of Management -- were trying to augment a type of machine learning known as "unsupervised." In supervised machine learning, a computer is fed a slew of training data that's been labeled by humans and tries to find correlations -- say, those visual features that occur most frequently in images labeled "car." In unsupervised machine learning, on the other hand, the computer simply looks for commonalities in unstructured data. The result is a set of data clusters whose members are in some way related, but it may not be obvious how. Balancing act The most common example of unsupervised machine learning is what's known as topic modeling, in which a system clusters documents together according to their most characteristic words. Since the data is unlabeled, the system can't actually deduce the topics of the documents. But a human reviewing its output would conclude that, for instance, the documents typified by the words "jurisprudence" and "appellate" are legal documents, while those typified by "tonality" and "harmony" are music-theory papers. The MIT researchers made two major modifications to the type of algorithm commonly used in unsupervised learning. The first is that the clustering was based not only on data items' shared features, but also on their similarity to some representative example, which the researchers dubbed a "prototype." The other is that rather than simply ranking shared features according to importance, the way a topic-modeling algorithm might, the new algorithm tries to winnow the list of features down to a representative set, which the researchers dubbed a "subspace." To that end, the algorithm imposes a penalty on subspaces that grow too large. So when it's creating its data clusters, it has to balance three sometimes-competing objectives: similarity to prototype, subspace size, and clear demarcations between clusters. "You have to pick a good prototype to describe a good subspace," Kim explains. "At the same time, you have to pick the right subspace such that the prototype makes sense. So you're doing it all simultaneously." The researchers' first step was to test their new algorithm on a few classic machine-learning tasks, to make sure that the added constraints didn't impair its performance. They found that on most tasks, it performed as well as its precursor, and on a few, it actually performed better. Shah believes that that could be because the prototype constraint prevents the algorithm from assembling feature lists that contain internal contradictions. Suppose, for instance, that an unsupervised-learning algorithm was trying to characterize voters in a population. A plurality of the voters might be registered as Democrats, but a plurality of Republicans may have voted in the last primary. The conventional algorithm might then describe the typical voter as a registered Democrat who voted in the last Republican primary. The prototype constraint makes that kind of result very unlikely, since no single voter would match its characterization. Road test Next, the researchers conducted a set of experiments to determine whether prototype-based machine learning could actually improve human decision-making. Kim culled a set of recipes from an online database in which they had already been assigned categories -- such as chili, pasta, and brownies -- and distilled them to just their ingredient lists. Then she fed the lists to both a conventional topic-modeling algorithm and the new, prototype-constrained algorithm. For each category, the new algorithm found a representative example, while the conventional algorithm produced a list of commonly occurring ingredients. Twenty-four subjects were then given 16 new ingredient lists each. Some of the lists were generated by the new algorithm and some by the conventional algorithm, and the assignment was random. With lists produced by the new algorithm, subjects were successful 86 percent of the time, while with lists produced by the conventional algorithm, they were successful 71 percent of the time. "I think this is a great idea that models the machine learning and the interface with users appropriately," says Ashutosh Saxena, an assistant professor of computer science at Cornell University. Saxena leads a research project called Robo Brain, which uses machine learning to comb the Internet and model the type of common-sense associations that a robot would need to navigate its environment. "In Robo Brain, the machine-learning algorithm is trying to learn something, and it may not be able to do things properly, so it has to show what it has learned to the users to get some feedback so that it can improve its learning," Saxena says. "We would be very interested in using such a technique to show the output of Robo Brain project to users."

Raspberry Pi Model A+ brings smaller build, even lower price tag

 

The new board is the smallest and cheapest Raspberry Pi ever

 

The Raspberry Pi Foundation has today announced the latest version of its popular mini-computer. Known as the Model A+, the new system brings improvements introduced with the Model B+, while slimming down both the size and price tag of the board.

The most striking difference between the older Raspberry Pi boards and the new model is its size. The new version cuts the mini-computer’s length down from 86 mm (3.4 in) to just 65 mm (2.6 in). Like the Model B+, the new release makes use of microSD storage over full-size cards, and a low-noise power supply for better integrated audio.

It also carries over the same, larger GPIO header, with 40 pins compared to the 26 found on the original board, allowing for compatibility with the company’s HAT standard for add-on boards. Like the original Model A, the A+ only features a single USB port, meaning you’ll have to pick up a USB hub if you’re intending to plug multiple devices into the tiny computer, and there’s no Ethernet port on board. There is a plus side to those omissions, with the new model using less power than the original Model A.

In light of those changes, it’s clear that the Model A+ is designed to sit alongside existing B+ rather than serve as an outright replacement for older boards. The latest Pi packs the same 700 MHz Broadcom BCM2835 SoC as the Model B+, and offers 256 MB RAM, meaning that its small form-factor and low-powered nature are its biggest draws.

Aside from the even tinier build, the biggest headline here is the price tag. Raspberry Pi boards have never been expensive pieces of kit, but the new version is the most affordable yet, lowering the asking price to just US$20. The refreshed mini-computer is built in the same South Wales Sony factory as the Model B+, and is available for purchase today from MCM in the US and Farnell in the UK, where it retails for £20.

Source: Raspberry Pi Foundation

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Lenovo's Yoga 3 Pro gets lighter and thinner, adds watchband hinge.

 

The Yoga 3 Pro takes Lenovo's familiar formula, and makes it lighter and thinner

To say Microsoft's 2-in-1 approach to Windows 8 (and 8.1) didn't go as planned would be a colossal understatement. But it did spawn a few success stories, including the Lenovo Yoga. The company is back with the 2014 version of its Windows flagship, the Yoga 3 Pro.

If you missed the Yoga train the first two times around the bend, here's a quick recap. The 2-in-1 has a hinged design that lets the device rotate 360 degrees. Imagine the last standard laptop you used – only with its screen stretching all the way around, folding into a tablet (with keyboard tucked on its backside).

One of the downsides to this form factor is that, with the keyboard folded back, it's going to be thicker than most standard tablets. The Yoga 2 Pro helped to cut down on that, but the Yoga 3 Pro moves farther in that direction.

When opened, the new model is 12.8 mm (half an inch) thick. That's going to make for a very thin laptop, and a tablet that's 17 percent less beefy than the last Yoga. Just remember, though, that in tablet mode it's going to be twice as thick – making it roughly 241 percent thicker than an iPad Air.

At 1.19 kg (2.62 lb), it's also 14 percent lighter than the Yoga 2 Pro. That is, however, 154 percent heavier than the iPad Air.

Unlike an iPad, though, you get a full desktop operating system (either Windows 8.1 or 8.1 Pro) with an Intel Core M 5Y70 processor (say hello to Broadwell). RAM is set at 8 GB, and you can choose from 256 GB and 512 GB storage options.

Lenovo is pushing the new model's "watchband hinge," which looks about how it sounds. The company says that the hinge is made of over 800 pieces of steel and aluminum, and played a part in shaving so much thickness off of last year's model. It also gives the Yoga 3 Pro six hinge points, instead of the two found in earlier Yogas.

The new Yoga retains the same impressive screen specs as we saw in last year's model. The 13-in display has QHD+ (3,200 x 1,800) resolution, which comes out to 276 pixels per inch (PPI). By comparison, the 13-in Retina MacBook, which also has a very sharp display, comes in at "just" 227 PPI.

Starting at US$1,350, though, the Yoga 3 Pro is a bit more expensive than Apple's professional 13-in laptop. The device is up for pre-order now, with Lenovo listing it as shipping "within three weeks."

Product page: Lenovo

 

Five Best Computer Diagnostic Tools

 

Computers are easier to use and more dependable with each new generation of hardware and operating system update, but that doesn't mean they're problem-free. Here's a look at the five most popular tools for troubleshooting your computer problems.

Earlier this week we asked you to share your favorite diagnostic tool. Below, we've rounded up the top five answers, and now we're back to highlight the most popular computer diagnostic tools among Lifehacker readers.

SIW (Windows, Free)

If things haven't gotten bad enough that you're forced to take refuge with a Live CD, SIW is a Windows-based diagnostic tool that can help you get to the bottom of things. SIW is incredibly detailed in its analysis, next to nothing is left uncatalogued from the timings of your memory modules to the DLL files loaded to what applications you have set to autorun at startup. Even if you're not currently experiencing any computer issues, SIW gives you a really interesting peek inside your computer.

Hiren's BootCD (Live CD, Free)

Hiren's BootCD is an impressive toolkit rolled into one packed DOS-based Live CD. Sporting over a hundred separate diagnostic and repair tools, Hiren's BootCD can help you do everything from diagnose a memory problem to clone a disk to speed test your video card. If you can't find out what is wrong with your computer after running through all the tools on Hiren's BootCD the diagnostic answer you may end up at is "Time to buy a new computer." A note about Hiren's BootCD: many of the diagnostic tools gathered on the disc are abandonware or older versions of still produced commercial software. The legal status of Hiren's BootCD is murky so Hiren doesn't directly host the disc image himself. You'll need to search Google to find locations like here and here where the disc is hosted. If you're not comfortable with murky areas of Hiren's method for assembling the boot disc, you'll find plenty of other excellent boot discs in this Hive Five that contain only freeware and open-source software.

Google/Search Engines (Web-based, Free)

Your first reaction to the phrase "computer diagnostic tool" might not be "Google!", but every computer diagnosis begins with the user wondering what the error code or chain of events leading up to the error means. We've solved countless problems around the Lifehacker office by simply plugging in an error code or describing the problem in common terms and letting Google do the heavy lifting. Google tirelessly kicks back thousands of web pages, forum posts, and even old Usenet postings to help you drill down to your specific issue. Your favorite search engine isn't necessarily a diagnostic tool in the traditional sense, but it should be the first place you stop whenever you have a computer issue. Many of the solutions we've found over the years using Google were extremely specific and pointed us towards using a just-for-that-problem application or tweak we would have never found otherwise.1

Ubuntu Live CD (Live CD, Free)

You'll find no shortage of Live CDs for Linux distributions, but Ubuntu has a particularly user-friendly Live CD and many people have experience with Ubuntu outside of diagnostic work, both make an Ubuntu Live CD extra appealing. You can use an Ubuntu Live CD to test your computer's memory, recover data, or scan your computer for viruses among other tasks. Live CDs are great for giving you a platform to work off of independently of your troubled system and an Ubuntu Live CD has the benefit of an enormous community of Ubuntu users and all the accompanying how-to guides and information.

Ultimate Boot CD for Windows (UBCD4Win) (Live CD, Free)

If you're a Windows user and you're not comfortable going back to your roots with a DOS-based boot disc and you definitely don't feel comfortable with a Linux one then UBCD4Win is just what you're looking for. UBCD4Win's strongest selling point is the stripped down version of Windows XP—Windows PE—which makes it dead simple for Windows users to jump in and start using the numerous diagnostic tools on UBCD4Win. When your version of Windows is flaking out on you, it's comforting to jump into a Live CD version of Windows to continue your diagnostic work without having to mess around with the nuances of using a Linux Live CD.

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HP Stream laptops and tablets provide Windows on a budget

 

All Stream range devices come with a year of cloud storage

 

HP has announced a new range of Windows-based tablets and notebooks. The devices, all of which carry the Stream moniker, hit a low-end price point and come with cloud storage solutions – a signal that the company is taking aim at the Chromebook market.

The Stream 7 and 8 tablets follow the recent trend of affordable slates running full Windows 8.1. HP is yet to provide detailed specs for any of the machines, but we do know that they'll be be powered by quad core Intel chips and offer HD displays.

What’s perhaps more interesting than their internals is the extras that the company is throwing in with a purchase. Pick up one of the low-end slates and you’ll get 1 TB of OneDrive cloud storage and 60 minutes of Skype time for one year. There will also be 4G variants of the tablets available, providing 200 MB data per month for the life of the device, with no annual contract.

Though the company’s new tablets look like good budget Windows offerings, it's the Stream 11.6 and 13.3 laptops that are the headline products. The new notebooks are still very much low-end offerings, but provide a Chromebook alternative that fits the same form-factor we’ve come to expect from those systems.

The Stream laptops instantly bring to mind HP’s Chromebook 11, and like that system they offer a fanless design and island-style keyboard. Like the tablets, there’s 1 TB of OneDrive cloud storage included alongside 32 GB of internal flash storage, as well as a US$25 gift card for use in the Windows Store.

If you’re viewing the new laptops in the context of low-end Chromebooks, then you’ll know not to expect much in terms of performance. That said, the dual core Celeron chip powering the Stream notebooks should be speedy enough for casual computing, and the HD (read 768p) displays are standard for the money.

They’re available in pink or blue, and HP claims the 13.3-inch system will run for 7 hours 45 minutes on a single charge, while the 11.6 variant should manage a slightly better 8 hours 15 minutes.

The new laptops join the already announced $300 Stream 14 notebook, which offers a 14-inch 1,366 x 768 panel, 2 GB of RAM and is powered by a quad core AMD A4 chip. The larger system offers a lower capacity 100 GB of cloud storage, but for a longer period of two years.

The Stream 7 and 8 tablets start at $100 and $150 respectively, while the 11.6-inch and 13.3-inch notebooks come in at $200 and $230. You’ll be able to pick up the 13.3-inch laptop with an optional touch display, though we don’t yet know how much more that version will cost. The entire range starts shipping in November.

Source: HP

Microsoft Surface Pro 3 review

 

Tablets are great for consuming entertainment, while laptops and other full PCs are required to actually create those works, or so the conventional wisdom goes. Some substitute the charged word "productivity" for creation, but the pitch is the same. You need one device for A, B, and C, and another for X, Y, and Z.

That means there's a sizable group of people out there spending at least part of the time lugging around a laptop and a tablet simultaneously. I've been guilty of that, usually packing a 13-inch ultrabook or MacBook Air and an iPad into my carry-on bag for airline flights.

Sarah Tew/CNET

With the new Surface Pro 3 from Microsoft, the software powerhouse (and occasional hardware maker) says it finally has the single grand unified device that will satisfy both the creation and consumption instincts equally. You'll feel just as at home watching a movie or reading a book as you will editing video footage or writing your novel.

That's largely the same pitch, of course, we got for the Surface Pro and Surface Pro 2 tablets, which points to the difficulty in translating the full Windows 8.1 experience freely between a laptop and tablet. Dozens of our hands-on reviews of devices ranging from 8-inch slates to 13-inch two-in-one hybrids back this up, as does the mixed reception to the first two generations of the Surface Pro.

Both of those devices, as well as the Surface Pro 3, at least begin with the right idea and smartly lean toward the laptop side of the tablet spectrum, including Intel Core i-series CPUs and keyboard covers designed to feel more like laptop keyboards.

With the Surface Pro 3, starting at $799 or £639 for an Intel Core i3 CPU and a 64GB SSD, we can see the thinking at Microsoft start to lean even more toward the laptop side, with a new kickstand and touch cover that allow you to work at almost any angle. Our review configuration is upgraded to a Core i5 CPU and 256GB SSD, which costs $1,299 or £1,109, while the type cover keyboard is an additional $129 or £110.

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The new Surface Pro is thinner than its predecessors, with a larger, higher-resolution screen. On that mark alone, it outshines the Pro and Pro 2. The internal specs and performance are largely similar to the Pro 2, but that means it's still just as fast as any current-gen premium laptop.

With the generation-over-generation tweaks to the design, especially the hinge and keyboard, you can see a dedicated push towards advancing the cause of practical usability. It's not entirely there yet, and it's still a leap to say this will be a true laptop replacement for most people, but the Surface Pro 3 is the first Surface device I feel confident in saying I could get away with using as a primary PC.

Microsoft Surface Pro 3
Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 2 Pro
MacBook Air 13-inch (June 2013)

Display size/resolution
12-inch, 2,160 x 1,440 touch screen
13.3-inch, 3,200 x 1,800 touch screen
13.3-inch, 1,440 x 900 screen

PC CPU
1.9GHz Intel Core i5 4300U
1.6GHz Intel Core i5 4200U
1.3GHz Intel Core i5 4250U

PC Memory
8GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,600MHz
4GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,600MHz
4GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,600MHz

Graphics
1,792MB (shared) Intel HD Graphics 4400
1,792MB (shared) Intel HD Graphics 4400
1,024MB Intel HD Graphics5000

Storage
256GB SSD hard drive
128GB SSD hard drive
128GB SSD hard drive

Optical drive
None
None
None

Networking
802.11a/c wireless, Bluetooth 4.0
802.11b/g/n wireless, Bluetooth 4.0
802.11a/c wireless, Bluetooth 4.0

Operating system
Windows 8.1 (64-bit)
Windows 8.1 (64-bit)
OSX Mountain Lion 10.8.4

Design and features

Despite the talk of this being the thinnest Intel Core i-series device to date, it still doesn't feel quite as thin and ethereal as, for example, the iPad Air. But its thinner body, coupled with a larger 12-inch screen, give it a more upscale feel than either the Pro or Pro 2, which were criticized for a certain boxiness.

Both of the previous Surface Pro models had 10.6-inch screens and were 13mm thick, with a footprint of 10.8 inches by 6.8 inches. This new 12-inch version is 11.5 inches by 7.9 inches, but its thickness drops to an impressive 9.1mm. The Pro 3 is also a tad lighter than its predecessor: 800 grams versus 900. Again, when you consider the larger screen, that's a worthy achievement.

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With a wink and a nod, Microsoft says this new Surface Pro design isn't exactly fanless, but it might as well be. That's because the new system internals, designed in partnership with Intel, allow the system run run not only ultra-low-voltage Core i3 or i5 CPUs, but also Core i7 ones, with a slim, quiet fan moving air as needed, allegedly without that telltale whirring sound, or a fan exhaust blowing on your hands. Our Surface Pro 3, a midrange model with an Intel Core i5 CPU, certainly felt cool during our hands-on testing, but an audible fan also kicked in at times. To call the experience fanless-like would not be accurate.

One major difference in the new design is the kickstand, which can be adjusted to nearly any angle between 22 degrees and 150 degrees. That's especially useful for tilting the screen way back, as an artist using a drafting table might, but as the owner of normal-size legs for a 6-foot-tall man, I still had a hard time getting the Surface Pro 3 to sit comfortably on my lap. The kickstand either kept the screen angle too severe to see clearly while seated, or else the end of the kickstand was sliding off my knees when I tilted the screen further back.

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Taking the type cover and kicking in its additional top-edge magnetic hinge, raising the back edge of the keyboard to a better angle, helped a bit, as the raised angle feels much more natural for typing (which is why nearly every PC keyboard has tiny feet at the back edge). It's a small change, but one that says Microsoft is thinking seriously about ergonomics.

Of portrait modes and pens

It may take a second to spot, but there's one major change to the Surface design ID this time around. The capacitive touch button Windows logo -- which brings you back to the Windows 8 tile interface -- has shifted from the bottom long edge of the chassis to one of the shorter edges.

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There are two reasons for that, to my mind. First, the new keyboard covers cover the area where the original Windows button was located when you use the second tilt-up hinge. Second, moving the Windows logo button to the short edge points users toward using the device in portrait mode. I've found that most Windows tablets and hybrids are designed around use in a laptop-like landscape mode, which has the screen lying against its longest side, while the all-popular Apple iPad is primarily understood as a device to be held upright in portrait mode, much like a book or magazine.

This ties directly into Microsoft's strong pitch for the Surface Pro 3 as an educational device for note-taking, annotation, drawing, and sketching. The included battery-powered Bluetooth pen is metallic, and more substantial than versions I've tried with other Windows 8 tablets, such as the 8-inch Asus VivoTab 8.