Archive for March, 2010
Breaking: Strong quake reported in Chile
March 11th, 2010 | 
Author: 
A USGS map shows the area where a 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit in Chile Thursday.
[Updated 10:07 a.m.] The 7.2 magnitude earthquake shook the ground near the region of Libertador General Bernardo O’Higgins, near the Chilean coast. It struck just as Chile prepared to inaugurate a new president, Sebastian Pinera.
The epicenter was about 71 miles away from Valparasio, Chile, where Pinera was to be inaugurated. Television footage showed the inauguration proceeding without a hitch.
The quake was almost 22 miles deep and centered 95 miles southwest of Santiago, according to USGS.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said in a statement that “a destructive Pacific-wide tsunami is not expected” and there is no tsunami threat to Hawaii.
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[Posted at 9:54 a.m.] An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.2 has struck south of Santiago, Chile, the United States Geological Survey reports.
This story is currently developing. We’ll bring you the latest information from Chile as soon as we get it.
http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/03/11/breaking-strong-quake-reported-in-chile/
Posted in CNN, diaster, earthquake, evironment, News, World News | 
Tags: Chile, CNN, disaster, earthquake | 
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Intel to debut 6-core gaming chip
Intel is expected to introduce a 6-core processor designed to crunch through the most 3D-intensive games in the coming weeks.
The first glimpses of the chip running 3D-intensive games such as Napoleon: Total War could happen at the 2010 Game Developer’s Conference next week, according to industry sources. The official roll-out of Intel’s 6-core “Westmere” processors, however, is expected later this month.
The Core i7-980X is distinguished primarily by being Intel’s first 6-core “Extreme Edition” processor based on the chipmaker’s cutting-edge 32-nanometer process technology. Generally, the smaller the manufacturing process, the more circuitry can be packed onto the chip, increasing performance. Most Intel processors still use “fatter” 45-nanometer technology.
Like other Core i series processors, it features Hyper-Threading, which can double the number of tasks–or threads–a processor can execute. So, a 6-core processor can handle 12 threads. This technology is not offered on prior-generation Core 2 chips.
Resellers–which have posted preliminary pricing–list the processor at just over $1,000 and show it running at 3.33GHz and packing 12MB of built-in cache memory. With an expected price of around $1,000, game boxes using the chip will not be cheap.
PC makers that typically offer high-end gaming boxes include Falcon Northwest, Velocity Micro, and Dell’s Alienware unit.
Source :
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-10463931-64.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
Posted in Entertainment, Gaming, Intel, Tech |
Tags: 3.33GHz, 6-core gaming chip, Intel, Westmere |
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Giant waves hit cruise ship; 2 passengers killed
(CNN) — Two passengers aboard a cruise ship were killed when 26-foot waves crashed into the vessel Wednesday, officials said. As many as fourteen others were injured.
The Greek Louis Cruise Lines ship was off the French port of Marseille when it was hit by “abnormal” waves, some more than 26 feet (9 meters) high, cruise line spokesman Michael Maratheftis told CNN.
As a result, five windows in public areas were smashed and two passengers, a German and an Italian, were killed, he said.
Fourteen others were treated for light injuries, Maratheftis said.
The vessel, the Louis Majesty, was sailing under a Maltese flag and traveling from Barcelona, Spain, to Genoa, Italy, the Greek Public Ministry of the Mercantile Marine told CNN.
The ship had 1,350 passengers and 580 crew on board, the ministry said.
After being struck, the cruise ship turned around and was heading back to port in Barcelona.
Source :
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/03/03/cruise.ship.wave/index.html
TiVo Introduces New Internet-Connected DVRs
TiVo has updated its offerings, introing two new set-top boxes, the TiVo Premiere and the TiVo Premiere XL, which will finally bring high-definition to the DVR range.
In a nutshell, the web-connected TiVo Premiere boxes offer cable TV, movies on demand (from Netflix, Amazon and Blockbuster) and web videos from YouTube (
). In the coming months, they will also offer music from Pandora (), along with existing services from the likes of Rhapsody () (which will also be available to Series 2 and 3 box owners).
In addition, TiVo is not letting the demand for apps pass it by; the boxes will offer access to more than 1,000 apps from FrameChannel with widgets for news, weather, sports, social networking sites and more.
As far as the difference between the two boxes goes, the Premiere has a 320GB harddrive — said to be good for 45 hours of HD storage or 400 standard, while the Premiere XL has 1TB of storage space and boasts 150 hours for HD and more than 1,000 for SD, as well as some THX tech for all kinds of optimal audio and video reproduction claims.
The boxes cost $300 and $500, respectively, and will be on sale in April. Also due soon from TiVo is a Wireless-N Wi-Fi adapter, and an unusual, slide-out QWERTY TiVo remote that will be offered as optional extras.
The idea of bringing the Internet into the living room is becoming more common as of late. Hardware products such as the soon-to-be-released Popbox and Boxee Box are all about getting Internet content on your television, and Yahoo’s Connected TV offering for web-enabled televisions will bring web widgets to the living room. Heck, Samsung has even introduced an app store for televisions.
These products and innovations, along with TiVo’s newest venture, just serve to demonstrate how attached we are to the Internet (Case in point: 13% of viewers were surfing the web during the Olympics’ opening ceremonies).
http://mashable.com/2010/03/03/tivo-apps-premiere-dvrs/
Posted in DVR, Entertainment, Internet, Tech, TiVo, TV |
Tags: DVR, Internet-Connected, TiVo |
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More than 100 bodies recovered after massive landslides in Uganda
Kampala, Uganda (CNN) — At least 106 bodies had been recovered Tuesday after massive landslides wiped out several villages around Mount Elgon on the Uganda-Kenya border, an army spokesman and local aid officials said.
The army has joined the search for an estimated 245 people who are still missing and feared dead in eastern Uganda’s Bududa district after Monday night’s landslides, which were brought on by unusually heavy rain in the third week of the annual rainy season, according to State Minister for Disaster Preparedness Musa Ecweru.
Dozens of bodies were recovered from a hospital and church where people had run to seek shelter, officials said. The hospital and church were buried when torrents of mud swept down on them.
The final death toll is expected to be much higher, Ecweru said, after crews are able to navigate the vast region affected by the disaster and find more victims. And more rain is forecast for the area.
In the meantime, the bodies recovered will be buried in mass graves beginning Wednesday, he said.
Spokeswoman Catherine Ntabadde of the Ugandan Red Cross Society said Tuesday that only two elderly women survived the disaster in one area.
“The villages of Nametsi, Namakansa and Kubewo in Nametsi parish have been wiped out” and six people died in the village of Bamuyaka in neighboring Bubita Sub County, Ntabadde added.
The URCS was providing water purification tablets to survivors to avoid outbreaks of waterborne diseases. Distribution of “nonfood items like tarpaulins, blankets, jerry cans, soap, saucepans, cups and plates is to commence late today to the now-homeless survivors,” she said.
There are other reports of landslides hitting several communities in the neighboring districts of Sironko and Bukwa — also located on the slopes and at the foot of Mount Elgon — where at least 1,000 people have been affected and their homes destroyed, but the extent of the damage there is not yet known, Ntabadde said.
Flooding has destroyed several roads and many bridges have been washed away in at least seven districts less than 31 miles (50 kilometers) from the mountain. They include the Butaleja, Budaka, Palisa, Tororo, Mbale and Manafwa districts.
In Butaleja, more than 6,000 households in four subcounties were affected by the flooding, and the area’s only two primary schools were washed away, Ntabadde said.
Mount Elgon, the second-highest mountain in Uganda, is an extinct volcano and has five distinct peaks ranging from 13,000 to 14,000 feet high, according to a Ugandan tourist Web site. It is located about 217 miles (350 kilometers) east of the capital, Kampala.
The landslides came when rivers on the mountain overflowed with heavy rains, but deforestation, farming and other human activity on its slopes also contributed to the problem.
Source :
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/africa/03/02/uganda.landslide/index.html
