Initial GPU benchmarks of Samsung Galaxy S III thrash the competition

With only a few short days remaining for the successor to the Samsung Galaxy S II to be unveiled in London, rumours of the handset are flying off the wall. The last we heard about this handset was that it was available for preorder on the German page of Amazon and it would be sold at a price of EUR599. The leaks of this handset do not stop there and this time around, phoneArena have come across the graphics benchmarks of the next Galaxy which goes by the codename GT-19300.

Outshines the competition

The benchmark had briefly surfaced on the results page of GLBenchmark and as per the GPU scores it appears that it will wipe out the competition. The website took the benchmark scores and pit it against the likes of the HTC One S, HTC One X, iPhone 4S and the new iPad. From the scores in the GLBenchmark 2.1 Egypt Offscreen 720p test, the upcoming flagship from Samsung beat the other smartphones and lost out to the new iPad only by a small margin. 

The report states, “The results from what is likely still a prototype Galaxy S III unit, beat the current Android king Snapdragon S4, beat Tegra 3 by a large margin, take over the iPhone 4S by a tad in most GPU test components, and even hold their own against the mighty quad-core PowerVR graphics in the new iPad. Since we already heard rumors about "superlative" benchmarks from the new Exynos, we are inclined to believe the same will be true for the CPU as well.” While this may be a prototype that was tested, the actual product could still be a really powerful handset that could hold its own for the foreseeable future. 

Here is a quick look at what is rumoured to feature in the next Galaxy smartphone:

• Android Ice Cream Sandwich
• 4.6-inch display Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 1184 x 720
• 1,4GHz quad-core processor
• Mali-400MP GPU
• 16GB Internal memory
• Expandable via MicroSD card
• 1GB RAM
• 8MP rear camera
• NFC
• 2250mAh battery

Let us know your reactions about the graphics capabilities that are featured in the smartphone based on these scores that quite literally wash out the competing smartphones.

Google Doodles for the zipper inventor, Gideon Sundback

If you go to the Google.com homepage today, you'll see the Google logo, as if stitched onto cloth with a large zipper in the middle. Once you click on the zipper, it opens up to take you to the clickthrough page, the search for Gideon Sundback, inventor of the zipper. If you click on "I'm Feeling Lucky", you'll be taken to a page with all of Google's Doodles from 2012. Gideon Sundback was born on the 24th of April, 1880 in Sweden to a farmer and his wife. After studying in Sweden, Sundback moved on to Germany for further education. He took his engineering exams in 1903 and migrated to the United States in 1905. In 1906, he was hired to work for the Universal Fastener company in New Jersey, and between 1906 and 1914, he began the development of the zipper.

The zipper: keeping our pants on since World War II

In 1913, he made the Hookless Fastener Number 1, which had an increased number of fastening elements (from four per inch to ten or eleven per inch) and had two facing rows of teeth which were pulled together into one piece by the slider. In 1914, he invented Hookless Fastener 2, which is essentially the modern zipper. This version is based on interlocking teeth. The United States patent for the product, patent number 1219881 for the Seperable Fastener was issued in 1917. Sundback also invented the manufacturing machine for the zipper. The word zipper came about in 1923, by B.F. GOodrich who used the product on their new boots. Tobacco pouches and boots were the first products to customarily use zippers, however, following World War II, the zipper also found its place on men's trousers and women's skirts and dresses.

In 1951, Sundback was awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences. On the 21st of June, 1954, Sundback passed away of a heart condition. He was included in the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2006 for his invention of the zipper. And of course, Google Doodled for him today. The way the Doodle opens up is very realistic to how a fabric separates when a zipper holding it together is opened. If you haven't already, check it out

Ubuntu 12.10 named Quantal Quetzal, 12.04 comes 26th April

The Linux movement is primarily driven on the desktop by Ubuntu and its many variations, primarily Mint Linux. There are still many who use Ubuntu Linux and there’s a new version coming this Thursday, the 26th of April. It’s been called Precise Pangolin and it follows the tradition of Ubuntu versions being named after animals. Mark Shuttleworth, CEO of Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu Linux has put up a blog post talking about the naming of the next major update - 12.10, slated to launch in October this year. It’s just been named Quantal Quetzal, after the Quetzal, a bird found in Mexico. The Quantal part of the name most likely comes from the inclusion of the Quantum networking virtualization package in the 12.10 release.

Ubuntu 12.04, just a few days away

The nearest release, 12.04 has been in beta for a while now and the final build is expected to hit the web the day after tomorrow. Precise Pangolin is going be released as a Long Term Support release, which should offer an extended support period - this is particularly useful for organizations who don’t want to update their operating system every few months, instead only want critical and security updates as they come. The last LTS Ubuntu build was 10.04, back in 2010. Support for Ubuntu 10.04 LTS will end sometime next year, while support for 12.10 LTS is expected to last till somewhere around 2017.

For those of you who haven’t tried Ubuntu, you can give it a shot using the LiveCD release. Canonical even has a web-based version setup to get you accustomed to the interface. Ubuntu 12.04 will bring along a whole bunch of improvements over its older version. There is better support for trackpads, especially those which have physical buttons integrated into them. Accessing applications should be simpler now as well using a feature called HUD - users would be able to able to access menus and applications by typing a few keywords. The new build will also switch to Rhythmbox as the default media player. Updates to GNOME and LibreOffice are also present. An all new Linux kernel - version 3.2.14 will be plugged into the OS.

NEWS / CPUS Intel launches 3rd Gen ‘Ivy Bridge’ processors, succesor to Sandy Bridge

Intel Corporation today introduced the quad-core 3rd generation Intel Core processor family, delivering dramatic visual and performance computing gains for gamers, media enthusiasts and mainstream users alike. Available now in powerful, high-end desktop, laptop and all-in-one (AIO) designs, the new processors are the first chips in the world made using Intel’s 22-nanometer (nm) 3-D tri-Gate transistor technology. The combination of Intel’s cutting-edge 3-D tri-gate transistor technology and architectural enhancements help make possible up to double the 3-D graphics and HD media processing performance compared with Intel’s previous generation of chips. As a result, all the things people love to do on their PCs—from creating and editing videos and photos; surfing the Web, watching HD movies or playing mainstream games— are quicker and better. In the coming months, additional versions of the 3rd generation Intel Core processors will be available to power a new wave of systems ranging from Ultrabook devices, to servers and intelligent systems in retail, healthcare and other industries.

The best just got better

The performance gains found in the new processors are due in part to the three-dimensional structure of the new Intel transistors. Until today, computers, servers and other devices have used only two-dimensional planar transistors. Adding a third dimension to transistors allows Intel to increase transistor density and put more capabilities into every square millimetre of these new processors. Intel has once again re-invented the transistor and delivered a combination of performance and energy efficiency, thus sustaining the pace of technology advancement and fuelling Moore’s Law for years to come. The 3rd generation Intel Core processor with Intel HD Graphics 4000 delivers up to two times better 3-D graphics performance compared to the previous-generation processor, bringing more gaming fun with richer detail at higher resolutions. Intel HD Graphics 4000 supports Microsoft DirectX11, OpenGL 3.1 and OpenCL 1.1. The 3rd generation Intel Core processor also adds security features, including Intel Secure Key and Intel OS Guard to safeguard personal data and identity. Intel Secure Key consists of a digital random number generator that creates truly random numbers to strengthen encryption algorithms. Intel OS Guard helps defend against privilege escalation attacks where a hacker remotely takes over another person's system. Systems based on quad-core 3rd generation Intel Core processor products will be available beginning this month from leading system makers.

We’ve already had a chance to review the desktop counterpart of Ivy Bridge, the Core i7-3770K which will eventually replace the Core i7-2700K Sandy Bridge CPU. Read our full review right here