SOUND YOU CAN鈥橳 HEAR
Computer manufacturers have decided we need another super-high-fidelity audio standard if we are to get better sound quality over the internet and on iPod-type players of the future.
At Intel鈥檚 Developer Forum in Beijing last week, 80 companies, including Microsoft, agreed the specification for Intel high-definition audio (IHDA). While CDs produce sounds at up to 20 kilohertz, which is around the top of the range of human hearing, IHDA will capture sound well beyond human hearing at up to 100 kilohertz. The thinking is that higher frequencies can still subtly improve sound perception. Intel promises IHDA will be 鈥渕usic to PC users鈥� ears鈥�. But people may not be so keen to sacrifice disc space or bandwidth to IHDA鈥檚 much larger file sizes.
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THE REAL THING
Nvidia, a leading manufacturer of the chips that power PC graphics cards, has launched a chip that can provide a more realistic look than ever to computer games written to exploit it. The realism depends on the speed at which images can be updated in response to character movements or changes in lighting. The faster the calculations that produce the images, the greater the realism.
The trick is to throw transistors at the problem: Nvidia鈥檚 GeForce 6800 chip has 222 million transistors dedicated to image calculation. That鈥檚 twice as many as the company鈥檚 previous chip and 70 million more than a Pentium 4.
It allows a character鈥檚 hair to move strand by strand, reflecting and refracting light according to its thickness. Jagged, blobby shadows become smooth-moving, realistically tracking a character鈥檚 movement and shape. Games exploiting the new hardware are expected in three months.
SALTY SECRET
What鈥檚 the point in salting icy roads if the salt leaches away in no time? A novel road surface developed by Russ Alger at Michigan Technological University in Houghton looks like fixing the problem. The surface comprises an aggregate embedded in a sheet of epoxy resin. The aggregate, a ground-up quarry stone the identity of which Alger is keeping secret, is porous and soaks up the salt. Since it is not easily washed away, the antifreeze stays on the road for longer. 鈥淭he surface can be rejuvenated by simply adding a light salt spray,鈥� says Alger. Early tests have been promising.
