Component Planet

Wednesday, 30 October 2019

Grenfell Tower fire: 'We are truly sorry we couldn't save everyone's life that night'

London Fire Brigade chief Dany Cotton gives her reaction to a critical report on the Grenfell tower fire.

from BBC News - London https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-50236074

Man wanted over £250,000 Tecchler violin train theft

Musician Stephen Morris says losing the 310-year-old instrument is like "having my arm cut off".

from BBC News - London https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-50234925

Mary Beard: Heathrow apology over 'undies' experience at security

Mary Beard says she was asked to strip down to "my scrappy undies" at airport security.

from BBC News - London https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-50234426

Researchers Develop Tiny Depth Sensor Inspired by Spider Eyes

Your smartphone might have a few different depth-sensing technologies for features like face unlock and portrait mode photos. The exact method of measuring the distance to a subject varies, but they might all one day end up being replaced by a new type of sensor based on nature. A team of Harvard researchers has designed the new 3D sensor using the same technique as a jumping spider.

Most depth-sensing systems in use today rely on stereo vision (multiple sensors a set distance apart) or projected light (IR illumination). A jumping spider has eight eyes, but it doesn’t use stereo vision like humans do to estimate distance. They don’t even have the brainpower to process vision as we do. Instead, each eye uses a multilayered retina to process images with different degrees of blur based on distance. As a result, jumping spiders can accurately determine the distance to their prey with incredible accuracy across a wide field of view.

The Harvard team used this as a model for its new “metalens” sensor, which can calculate distance without any traditional optical elements. It doesn’t have layers like a spider eye, but it does split light to generate two differently de-focused images on a photosensor. This is known as “depth from defocus.”

Of course, the key to the jumping spider’s hunting prowess is the way its nervous system interprets the blurred images as a depth map. The team developed an AI-powered version of that, too. Data from the metalens feeds into a custom algorithm that compares the split images. It can then generate a real-time depth map that tells you how far away your target is. Like the vision processing of the jumping spider, this process is highly efficient. You don’t need any bulky sensors or powerful CPUs to generate the distance map. The metalens sensor used in the experiment is only three millimeters across.

The researchers see the potential for metalens depth sensing in self-driving cars and robots. Rather than having a few cameras spread around a vehicle and complex algorithms to generate depth maps, a larger number of tiny metalenses spread around could quickly and easily tell the computer how far away everything is. The technology could also come to phones in the future, replacing the bulky multi-sensor 3D sensor platforms like Apple Face ID and Google’s Face Match.

Now read:

from ExtremeTechExtremeTech https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/301183-researchers-develop-tiny-depth-sensor-inspired-by-spider-eyes

Brentford and Millwall: FA fine both clubs £14,000 each for failing to control players

The Football Association fine Brentford and Millwall £14,000 each over a melee in their Championship game on 19 October.

from BBC News - London https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/50233310

Haringey v Yeovil: Police hunt men over FA Cup racist abuse

The FA Cup qualifier between Haringey Borough and Yeovil Town was abandoned when both teams walked off.

from BBC News - London https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-50234921

At A Glance: Dell Latitude 5300 2-in-1 Review

Dell’s new Latitude 5300 2-in-1 laptops are designed to be an affordable business solution for those people that need a tablet and a laptop. In testing, the 5300 did a decent job, but here you don’t get enough performance for your money.

Overview

The Latitude 5300 was constructed out of plastic that has been reinforced by carbon fiber to feel more sturdy and durable. It’s non-metal chassis is one way that Dell aimed to cut the system’s cost and make it more affordable. The 13.3-inch system is also relatively light at 3.15lbs. Other than that, the rest of the system’s features aren’t particularly impressive.

Testing

Our sister site PCMag tested a model that retails for $1,519 and comes equipped with an Intel Core i5-8365U processor, 8GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD and a 1080p display.

The system performed well when tested with Cinebench R15, coming in second place. Surprisingly it also beat out HP’s EliteBook, which is equipped with an Intel Core i7 processor.

The Dell Latitude 5300 also showed positive results when tested with Photoshop CC. It came in third place behind the two Intel Core i7 notebooks, but it beat out the other Core i5 computers with a healthy margin.

All of these notebooks rely on the integrated graphics processor inside of the Intel processor, and as such they are not really meant for gaming. PCMag ran a couple of graphics tests on the system just to be thorough, however. The tests showed most of the systems performing fairly similar to teach other in 3DMark.

PCMag didn’t test any games, but running Unigine Superposition 1.0 showed the Dell fall into last place behind all competing systems.

Conclusion

Given the Dell Latitude 5300‘s price and features, I wouldn’t recommend it. Although PCMag gave it a rating of 3.5 out of 5, it’s far too expensive to competitive. I see laptops with Intel Core i7 processors and 16GB of RAM on a regular basis that cost less than the Dell Latitude 5300, and those systems would undoubtedly perform better due to their superior hardware.

This system does have the added advantage of its compact size and 2-in-1 feature, but realistically there are far better 2-in-1 options available than the Dell Latitude 5300.

Now read:

from ExtremeTechExtremeTech https://www.extremetech.com/computing/301010-at-a-glance-dell-latitude-5300-2-in-1-review