Boner: It is still confusing...

Astrophysicists have created the most realistic computer simulation of the universe's evolution to date, tracking activity from the Big Bang to now -- a time span of around 14 billion years -- in high resolution.

Created by a team at the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics (CfA) in collaboration with researchers at the Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies (HITS), the Arepo software provides detailed imagery of different galaxies in the local universe using a technique known as "moving mesh".

Unlike previous model simulators, such as the Gadget code, Arepo's hydrodynamic model replicates the gaseous formations following the Big Bang by using a virtual, flexible grid that has the capacity to move to match the motions of the gas, stars, dark matter and dark energy that make up space -- it's like a virtual model of the cosmic web, able to bend and flex to support the matter and celestial bodies that make up the universe. Old simulators instead used a more regimented, fixed, cubic grid.

"We took all the advantages of previous codes and removed the disadvantages," explained Volker Springel, the HITS astrophysicist who built the software. Springel, an expert in galaxy formation who helped build the Millennium Simulation to trace the evolution of 10 billion particles, used Harvard's Odyssey supercomputer to run the simulation. Its 1,024 processor cores allowed the team to compress 14 billion years worth of cosmic history in the space of a few months.

The results are spiral galaxies like the Milky Way and Andromeda that actually look like spiral galaxies -- not the blurred blobs depicted by previous simulators -- generated from data input that stretches as far back as the afterglow of the Big Bang, thus portraying a dramatic cosmic evolution (see the above video for a sneak peek of that evolution from four billion years after the Big Bang).

"We find that Arepo leads to significantly higher star formation rates for galaxies in massive haloes and to more extended gaseous disks in galaxies, which also feature a thinner and smoother morphology than their Gadget counterparts," the team states in a paper describing the technology.

Though the feat is impressive -- CfA astrophysicist Debora Sijacki compares the high-resolution simulation's improvement over previous models to that of the 24.5-metre aperture Giant Magellan Telescope's improvement over all telescopes -- the team aim to generate simulations of larger areas of the universe. If this is achieved, the team will have created not only the most realistic, but the biggest universe simulation ever.



>> ^BoneRemake:

this video is a waste without addition information.
what am I looking at. spiraling gas' or something.
what is the significance, why did nine people upvote something they probably do not understand.
what part of the universe is this ? why didnt it start at the beginning ?
WHY WHY FUCKING WHY.

I love these little gadgets that come up claiming to solve 3rd world problems and that totally ignore one of the primary problems of the third world...poverty. Even if these were $5 each it costs $0 to circle some rocks together

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

Golf clap.>> ^Sagemind:

There are many reasons Fett is a great character (and why he Bad-Ass). I'll try to avoid all of the stuff from the books but they reinforce Fett and the characteristics that define him.
1). Disintegrations: In the Dark Horse Comic "Enemy of the Empire" - Baba Fett had been given the order to disintegrate his target giving him a reputation for being relentless.
2). Boba Fett wears braids made of Wookie hair as trophies of Wookies that he has bested.
3). Boba Fett outsmarts Has Solo. When Han comes up with the idea of floating away with the trash, Boba Fett sees through Han's plan and is able to track him and arrive in Bespin before they can even land the Falcon
4). Boba Fett has the balls to negotiate with a Sith Lord and still come out with a good deal - something few people can do. Then later he has the balls again to challenge Vader when he warns "he's no good to me dead"
4). Once Boba Fett has Han captured (frozen), he had to outsmart and fend off two different IG-88 droids in two separate attacks, as well as defend his bounty against the team-up of Bossk, Zuckus and 4-Lom multiple times before he could get Han to Jabba and claim his reward - some of the toughest and most ruthless mercinaries in the bounty hunter's guild. (Also, an aside from the books... Boba Fett was able to outsmart and dissolve the entire Bounty Hunter's Guild.)
5). Boba managed to get two bounty payouts for the same bounty from two of the hardest villains around. He was paid by Vader to provide Han as bait to get Skywalker and he was able to turn him over to Jabba once Vader was finished with him. Successfully!!
6). Shooting at Luke while on the Sail Barge. - It's believed that Boba missed Luke on purpose because he knew Vader wanted him alive. The reason he tried to catch him using the wrist lasso and why he jet-packed to the skiff instead of staying on the barge..
7). Why was Boba Fett hanging around Jabba's Pallace after he delivered Han?
Jabba offered Fett more credits, knowing Skywalker and the other would probably try to rescue him. Jabba was known for keeping multiple bounty Hunters and mercenaries on retainer both through blackmail and by paycheck. Having many different factions close by ensured that even if there was mutiny, there was always another faction standing by to protect him for a cash payment.
. Boba Fett has the best ship in Star Wars galaxy with best weaponry and gadgets. He also has the cash to keep it up to date functioning perfectly - because he is the best at what he does. Slave One is a modified prototype police vehicle (Firespray-31-class patrol and attack craft) made by Kuat Systems Engineering, the largest ship builder in the galaxy. (I also like the B-wing fighter, it's pretty cool too.)
9). Boba Fetts custom Mandalorian Armor is just plain cool.
10). Fett had to end up in the Pit of Carkoon/Sarlac Pit". It was the only option story wise. Fett would have pursued Skywalker and the gang if he could have and then where would that leave our heroes - DEAD, that's where.
I shouldn't have to defend him but there you go - Truth be told I also like Bossk and Dengar for their own reasons as well.

There are many reasons Fett is a great character (and why he Bad-Ass). I'll try to avoid all of the stuff from the books but they reinforce Fett and the characteristics that define him.

1). Disintegrations: In the Dark Horse Comic "Enemy of the Empire" - Baba Fett had been given the order to disintegrate his target giving him a reputation for being relentless.

2). Boba Fett wears braids made of Wookie hair as trophies of Wookies that he has bested.

3). Boba Fett outsmarts Has Solo. When Han comes up with the idea of floating away with the trash, Boba Fett sees through Han's plan and is able to track him and arrive in Bespin before they can even land the Falcon

4). Boba Fett has the balls to negotiate with a Sith Lord and still come out with a good deal - something few people can do. Then later he has the balls again to challenge Vader when he warns "he's no good to me dead"

4). Once Boba Fett has Han captured (frozen), he had to outsmart and fend off two different IG-88 droids in two separate attacks, as well as defend his bounty against the team-up of Bossk, Zuckus and 4-Lom multiple times before he could get Han to Jabba and claim his reward - some of the toughest and most ruthless mercinaries in the bounty hunter's guild. (Also, an aside from the books... Boba Fett was able to outsmart and dissolve the entire Bounty Hunter's Guild.)

5). Boba managed to get two bounty payouts for the same bounty from two of the hardest villains around. He was paid by Vader to provide Han as bait to get Skywalker and he was able to turn him over to Jabba once Vader was finished with him. Successfully!!

6). Shooting at Luke while on the Sail Barge. - It's believed that Boba missed Luke on purpose because he knew Vader wanted him alive. The reason he tried to catch him using the wrist lasso and why he jet-packed to the skiff instead of staying on the barge..

7). Why was Boba Fett hanging around Jabba's Pallace after he delivered Han?
Jabba offered Fett more credits, knowing Skywalker and the other would probably try to rescue him. Jabba was known for keeping multiple bounty Hunters and mercenaries on retainer both through blackmail and by paycheck. Having many different factions close by ensured that even if there was mutiny, there was always another faction standing by to protect him for a cash payment.

. Boba Fett has the best ship in Star Wars galaxy with best weaponry and gadgets. He also has the cash to keep it up to date functioning perfectly - because he is the best at what he does. Slave One is a modified prototype police vehicle (Firespray-31-class patrol and attack craft) made by Kuat Systems Engineering, the largest ship builder in the galaxy. (I also like the B-wing fighter, it's pretty cool too.)

9). Boba Fetts custom Mandalorian Armor is just plain cool.

10). Fett had to end up in the Pit of Carkoon/Sarlac Pit". It was the only option story wise. Fett would have pursued Skywalker and the gang if he could have and then where would that leave our heroes - DEAD, that's where.

I shouldn't have to defend him but there you go - Truth be told I also like Bossk and Dengar for their own reasons as well.

Look, Casino Royale showed up twenty years of Bond films to be the mindless derivative drivel that they were.

The film reintroduced the darkness that was at the heart of Bond that hasn't been seen, arguably, since the death of Bond's just-married wife at the end of the highly underrated "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" (which coincidentally had the best soundtrack of all Bond films). That was in 1969.

Some would contend that Timothy Dalton captured the true essence of Bond's dark moodiness in his too-short stint as Bond in The Living Daylights and Licence to Kill - but he had the advantage of actually being able to act, a skill no one could accuse Pierce Brosnan of bringing to the franchise.

I believe that the Bourne films effectively modernised Bond and the franchise was forced to follow, after years of meandering aimlessly with Brosnan whose films retained a misplaced focus on gadgets and 'witty' lines. There is a place for these, but they superseded plot, character and genuine style. Product placement became too much of a cash cow as well (although I hear an agreement has been made to replace Bond's signature martini with Heineken in Skyfall).

Casino Royale returned Bond to his rightful place. Bourne is great, but he's no Bond. Compared to CR, Quantum of Solace was indeed inferior. But Yogi is right - it was way better than every Brosnan Bond film, which were total disappointments to genuine fans.

So there.

>> ^Sagemind:

I think it all sounds great!
Except for maybe the wireless speaker (if it is on batteries).
She pulls it out of the side, which makes me wonder if it doesn't have a slot, making it recharge while it's connected. You just pull it out for movie night.
And ya (@Gallowflak), Sometimes families use TV, DVD & MP3. what was your point?
Example: As an artist, I don't mind the idea of grinding my own pigments to make my paints, but I don't expect the average person to bother. It's the same with tech. Why would most people bother? Confusing tech is a FAIL in my book. If I have to go and set up one more family's surround-sound or program one more super-remote - I'm gonna loose it


I'm not sure I really had a point... just that, as CrushBug notes, this obviously isn't for people who get a kick out of technology* and have an active interest in it.

And when I said "as a sound guy", I was mostly joking and being masturbatory, but I'm sick to death of shitty goddamn speaker systems.

*(or at least entertainment tech/hardware)

yeah, for once I can agree with QM on something. Never underestimate the market shills that will milk this crap for all it's worth.

Don't get me wrong, I love the idea of augmented reality...for things that really matter like research, work, science, and heck..yes...military applications.

I just get sick and tired of amazing tech like this being marketed to the hipster/fashion/leisure crowd I just really have no need to be that hooked in when it comes to social/leisure things. God forbid he actually interact with someone ask them directions or where something is. Nor am I looking forward to another round of peer pressure bullshit when it comes to new gadgets like this.w

>> ^raverman:

This strikes me as a thing that just wouldn't exist if more women were in charge of things.
It's only exciting to male gadget arousal and the little subconscious boy inside that wants to go back to playing war with futuristic fantasy lasers and bombs and things that go VROOOOMMMM.
But then if women were in charge all that money would have been spent on bailing out the industrial complex of makers, buyers, and sellers of shoes and buildings full of doctors and nurses. Sounds like socialism!


as much as this is a cliche: i still have to agree.

This strikes me as a thing that just wouldn't exist if more women were in charge of things.

It's only exciting to male gadget arousal and the little subconscious boy inside that wants to go back to playing war with futuristic fantasy lasers and bombs and things that go VROOOOMMMM.

But then if women were in charge all that money would have been spent on bailing out the industrial complex of makers, buyers, and sellers of shoes and buildings full of doctors and nurses. Sounds like socialism!

Yup. Thick and inflexible.

I'm not done with you or this issue yet.

Thread's gettin' long so I'll end it here.

Until next time, Gadget. See you in the *discuss ..ions

Sitting in a chair beating it with all these new fangled gadgets? when I was kid we had to jack off while walking 4 miles to school , all up hill, both ways. (i wish I was born 40 years later:)

I done been hearing rumors that Siri is coming to the iPhone 4, but this is doubtful as there is a hardware limitation there - a significantly slower processor. Other than that, yea, lots of these things are business decisions rather than technical limitations. Remember when apple blocked the app that made the Volume button into a shortcut to take pictures - and then after a while released a new version of the camera software that had the feature in it. Lots of things like that happen too.
>> ^dag:

It's not about technical limitations. It's product alignment and yes, cynically, selling more iPhone 4s's. But even taking out the cynical bit - Siri does make more sense on the iPhone than an iPad. Much of Siri relies on GPS which is not built in to the iPad WiFI version. Siri also needs you to be online all the time to work- whereas the iPad is not. For these reasons and a few more - Siri on the iPad would not be an optimal experience- and if it's not optimal - Apple doesn't do it.
The real question is why isn't Siri on the 4 or even the 3GS? I'm afraid that's mostly about the Benjamins.

>> ^gwiz665:
The iPad 2 has identical hardware to iPhone 4S, then only differences is that 4S is downclocked to 800 MHz (from 1 GHz) and that it obviously has a different resolution. It could pull off Siri easily I would wager (unless it has some sort of extra gadget inside especially for it, which is doubtful).
>> ^dannym3141:
>> ^gwiz665:
As an iOS and Android developer, I recommend the iPad 2. From a user standpoint is has better apps and, at least to me, the interface "feels" better. In fairness though, I have not worked directly with the Galaxy 10.1, so I don't know too much about the performance of that. The iPad 2 is a beast and can pull off quite a bit of stuff though.
With dropbox on it, it becomes a lot more useful for work stuff, since you can easily move files on and off.
Siri is not available on the iPad 2, yet, at least. And nothing has been announced, so this should be kept in mind when purchasing, if Siri is a wanted feature.
There are apps that can interact from iPhone to iPad, and you can tether the iPad to use the iPhone as a hotspot, which can be nice.

I'm quite surprised siri isn't on the ipad 2... but i'd assumed it had the hardware for it.
Soooo it's apple, there's only gonna be one of two reasons - either it doesn't have the hardware (gwizz will know) or they're releasing a new ipad soonish and want to have a selling point. I'd recommend looking at estimated release rumours for a new ipad, might play into your decision.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

It's not about technical limitations. It's product alignment and yes, cynically, selling more iPhone 4s's. But even taking out the cynical bit - Siri does make more sense on the iPhone than an iPad. Much of Siri relies on GPS which is not built in to the iPad WiFI version. Siri also needs you to be online all the time to work- whereas the iPad is not. For these reasons and a few more - Siri on the iPad would not be an optimal experience- and if it's not optimal - Apple doesn't do it.

The real question is why isn't Siri on the 4 or even the 3GS? I'm afraid that's mostly about the Benjamins.


>> ^gwiz665:

The iPad 2 has identical hardware to iPhone 4S, then only differences is that 4S is downclocked to 800 MHz (from 1 GHz) and that it obviously has a different resolution. It could pull off Siri easily I would wager (unless it has some sort of extra gadget inside especially for it, which is doubtful).
>> ^dannym3141:
>> ^gwiz665:
As an iOS and Android developer, I recommend the iPad 2. From a user standpoint is has better apps and, at least to me, the interface "feels" better. In fairness though, I have not worked directly with the Galaxy 10.1, so I don't know too much about the performance of that. The iPad 2 is a beast and can pull off quite a bit of stuff though.
With dropbox on it, it becomes a lot more useful for work stuff, since you can easily move files on and off.
Siri is not available on the iPad 2, yet, at least. And nothing has been announced, so this should be kept in mind when purchasing, if Siri is a wanted feature.
There are apps that can interact from iPhone to iPad, and you can tether the iPad to use the iPhone as a hotspot, which can be nice.

I'm quite surprised siri isn't on the ipad 2... but i'd assumed it had the hardware for it.
Soooo it's apple, there's only gonna be one of two reasons - either it doesn't have the hardware (gwizz will know) or they're releasing a new ipad soonish and want to have a selling point. I'd recommend looking at estimated release rumours for a new ipad, might play into your decision.

The iPad 2 has identical hardware to iPhone 4S, then only differences is that 4S is downclocked to 800 MHz (from 1 GHz) and that it obviously has a different resolution. It could pull off Siri easily I would wager (unless it has some sort of extra gadget inside especially for it, which is doubtful).
>> ^dannym3141:

>> ^gwiz665:
As an iOS and Android developer, I recommend the iPad 2. From a user standpoint is has better apps and, at least to me, the interface "feels" better. In fairness though, I have not worked directly with the Galaxy 10.1, so I don't know too much about the performance of that. The iPad 2 is a beast and can pull off quite a bit of stuff though.
With dropbox on it, it becomes a lot more useful for work stuff, since you can easily move files on and off.
Siri is not available on the iPad 2, yet, at least. And nothing has been announced, so this should be kept in mind when purchasing, if Siri is a wanted feature.
There are apps that can interact from iPhone to iPad, and you can tether the iPad to use the iPhone as a hotspot, which can be nice.

I'm quite surprised siri isn't on the ipad 2... but i'd assumed it had the hardware for it.
Soooo it's apple, there's only gonna be one of two reasons - either it doesn't have the hardware (gwizz will know) or they're releasing a new ipad soonish and want to have a selling point. I'd recommend looking at estimated release rumours for a new ipad, might play into your decision.

I'm a bit surprised at the general level of debate about Jobs. I don't really care about whether he was nice to people or not. I don't measure him on that basis, and I couldn't hope to know the truth of it.

To me, that whole discussion smacks of tabloid driven fantasy. You know, the whole pretence that we might actually know what celebrities are like. Oh, Angelina Jolie's a bitch, Steve Jobs was an arsehole, Tom Cruise is craaaaaaazy!

For me, the debate seems to have been about canonising a 'genius' or demonising a capitalist pig. Neither of these comes close to capturing how I think he should be remembered.

I confess, I'm not an Apple fan. I'm not an early adapter, I'm not into gadgets and I tend to wait until something is proven before I buy in. I'm not blown away by Apple products, but I did buy an Ipod when the dust settled and they seemed like a useful product. I still have it, and it's been worth the purchase. I don't see anything worthy of a genius tag on an Apple product, but they are beautifully designed, intuitive products.

Similarly, I don't think of him as an evil capitalist any more than any other business owner, and no less. Like any other manufactured product, Apple uses cheap Asian labour, but that doesn't offend me greatly. They appear to control the supply chain, and they have differentiated their products, managed supply, and achieved margins that are higher than their competitors - this is good business, and I respect it.

I don't believe he's 'changed' anyone's life dramatically - certainly not my own. I think he was a very smart guy who delivered very good products to a generation of people with high disposable incomes and an interest in technology. Well played.

I will never know what he was like as a person, and I'm ok with that.