Technology

SuperUser reader KingNestor is curious about how much RAM a 64-bit computer can hold:

    I’m reading through my computer architecture book and I see that in an x86, 32bit CPU, the program counter is 32 bit.

    So, the number of bytes it can address is 2^32 bytes, or 4GB. So it makes sense to me that most 32 bit machines limit the amount of ram to 4gb (ignoring PAE).

    Am I right in assuming that a 64bit machine could theoretically address 2^64 bytes, or 16 exabytes of ram?!

A $500 “nano-camera” that can operate at the speed of light has been developed by researchers in the MIT Media Lab.

The three-dimensional camera, which was presented last week at Siggraph Asia in Hong Kong, could be used in medical imaging and collision-avoidance detectors for cars, and to improve the accuracy of motion tracking and gesture-recognition devices used in interactive gaming.

The Federal Communications Commission will propose allowing passengers to use their cellphones on airplanes, setting up a debate that will pit the technically possible against the socially tolerable.

While phone use would still be restricted during takeoff and landing, the proposal would lift an FCC ban on airborne calls and cellular data use by passengers once a flight reached 10,000 feet.

In a little booth tucked in the corner of the SC13 supercomputing conference here this week may be the next Intel.

There you'll find Max Shulaker, a Stanford University graduate student, ready to explain carbon nanotube digital circuits to anyone stopping by. Shulaker is part of team of researchers building such circuits, and will be presenting to attendees their research on "the first" computer built using carbon nanotubes, or CNTs.

Russia-based Yota Devices has been working on a curious beast called the YotaPhone for years now, and it’s gained quite a reputation for itself because of its split personality. While the front of the phone sports a traditional LCD screen, the back plays home to a power-sipping eInk display because… well, why not?

The launch date was one of the last big questions left unanswered, but that’s no longer the case: the company has just confirmed to us that the YotaPhone will launch internationally before Christmas.

A new supercomputer being deployed this month in the U.S. is using solid-state drive storage as an alternative to DRAM and hard drives, which could help speed up internal data transfers.

The supercomputer, called Catalyst, will be deployed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California. Built by the U.S. Department of Energy, Cray and Intel, the supercomputer delivers a peak performance of 150 teraflops and will be available for use starting later this month.

Cell phone use will continue to be banned in flight for calls, but users will be permitted to keep them running in airplane mode.

Airline passengers on U.S. flights will soon be allowed to use most personal electronic devices (PEDs) during any phase of a flight, from taxiing to takeoff, climbing and landing, under expanded new rules announced Oct. 31 by the FAA.

One of the things we love about technology is how fast it moves. New products and new services are solving our problems all the time, improving our connectivity and user experience on a nigh-daily basis.

But underneath sit the technologies that just keep hanging on. Every flesh wound, every injury, every rupture of their carcass levied by a new device or new method of doing things doesn't merit even so much as a flinch from them. They keep moving, slowly but surely, eating away at our livelihoods. They are the undead of the technology world, and they're coming for your brains.

A European Union biometrics safety research project that aims to develop improved authentication products is claiming success with its efforts but appears to have mostly highlighted how difficult it is to make such identification technology work properly.

The Tabula Rasa (Latin for blank slate) project has received a total of six million euro (A$8.6 million) in funding.

Attaching a GPS to a car without a search warrant is unconstitutional, the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled [click here for PDF] on Tuesday.

The decision comes as a victory for the privacy groups that filed an amicus brief [click here for PDF] in November 2012, asking that the court consider whether law enforcement agents should have to obtain a warrant based on probable cause before attaching a GPS tracker to a car and tracking its movements. The case involves a GPS tracker that police attached to a car belonging to Harry Katzin.