Nvidia Tegra 4!

Nvidia looks to set the pace for the processor performance wars with their introduction of Tegra 4. In years past handset makers have favored Nvidia offering because of it constant trend setting introductions. Tegra 3 dominated in the processor space during the first half of 2012, with the introduction of Tegra 4 there is no doubt in my mind this processor will be the one handset makers choose at least in the first half of the year. 

Diving into the processor! Four major components of Tegra 4: 5 core CPU, 72 core GPU, improved HDR photo production and a new adoption of 28nm size processing die. Tegra 4 maintains the same four core + 1 set up, having four high performance cores and one companion core for low power processing. One of the eye opening features of the Tegra 4 processor is the 72-core graphics unit. Side note: Games launching this year should just be absolutely STUNNING! The architecture has also now been shrunk down to 28nm with this shrinkage Tegra 4 should be much more power efficient than that of last year's Tegra 3. 

Drawback! Tegra 4 does not include integrated LTE, the world is marching forward, 4G/LTE is the future of cellular data. Having no integrated LTE leaves wide room for Nvidia's competitors to one up them on their current offering. This also presents the problem of less efficiency in the battery department. Hopefully Nvidia update this before the year is out.

The Next Big Thing?

I’m 22. One year older than Mark Zuckerberg was when he founded Facebook, and three years younger than Larry Paige and Sergey Brin were when they opened Google as a private company. In this relatively new age of technology, the truth is that our generation is running the show. This statement may furrow the brow of many a veteran in this game, but an inability to think fresh, irresponsibly and crazy, means an inability to create the next big thing. I’m only a third year Computer Science major at the University of the West Indies, located on the tiny island of Barbados but I believe I have meaningful commentary on this shiny new toy called technology. 

When I was very young, my father founded a computer business in my home country St.Vincent and the Grenadines, which give me exposure to a lot of things which are now considered archaic. I remember playing games such as Jacks and a colorful stick game and fiddling with the arm that secured 5 ¼’ Floppy disk. Sometimes I left the computer purposely idle so as to see my favorite maze screensaver complete with a sorry excuse (in terms of graphics) rat. Chip’s Challenge, Pipe Dream and Ski Free, were later added to things I enjoyed most about computer as a kid. Times have changed since then, and I now own my own laptop, an Apple device and blackberry both equally useful to me. My blogging partner Maurice, often categorizes me as an Apple Hater, and I in turn tend to categorize him as an Apple Fanatic. Both claims we refute to anyone willing to listen. It’s going to be particularly interesting to see how our views compare and contrast on various aspect of this ever changing world. With CES 2013 starting soon, things can only get more heated.

I am also a professional photographer, with a fair knowledge on the use of Adobe Photoshop and a long history of designing websites. From learning basic HTML on my own at the age of 16, I can now build a fully-fledged website from “scratch” and still learning more. I am also no stranger to blogs as one night in college after being kicked out of the school library, I posted my commentary on the library experience anonymously to a blog I titled ‘Man About College’ which was well received, and snow-balled into Brainstorm Inc, a website I founded to be a hub of a number of similar blogs with multiple contributors.

I have no doubt that this blogging experience would be as interesting as before, and hope to learn as much from you the reader as you would learn from me.

- Janique-ka John

Geek iRice Reports...

Who is Maurice John? Tech junkie by day, tech junkie by night, that sums up who Maurice John is for the purpose of this blog. Technology was not my first love, I was sold the idea of civil engineering by my father through the belief that the best way to live life is by the merits of your own establishment. I kept the idea of self-sufficiency but rejected the engineering when I fell in love with tech way back in high school. It might have had something to do with the stunning I.T teacher but the end result brought forth sweet fruits.

Technology has evolved to a point where it’s now the focal point of every aspect of life. The world marches to the beat of tech, with my ears firmly planted on the ground I want to translate those notes to the masses. 

With the goal of translation in mind, my blog posts will be geared towards critically analyzing the movements in the technological space and assessing how they will eventually affect us as a Caribbean body. My colleague, Janique-ka John and I will be first tackling CES, which begins on the 8^th of January.

Quest to self-sufficiency! I’m currently in the infancy stages of creating my own business, (M.John IT Solutions) at this moment I provide only website creation services. As time progresses and I have completed my studies I would move deeper into software space through apps for every screen we utilize today.

-Maurice John