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Apple's new OS geared for multicore future

Apple began shipping Snow Leopard on Friday, but the true importance of the Mac OS X update likely will emerge well afterward.

That's because Mac OS X 10.6 begins a longer-term Apple attempt to get ahead by cracking a problem facing the entire computer industry: squeezing useful work out of modern processors. Instead of stuffing Snow Leopard with immediately obvious new features, Apple is trying to adjust to the new reality in which processors can do many jobs simultaneously rather than one job fast.

"We're trying to set a foundation for the future," said Wiley Hodges, director of Mac OS X marketing.

Apple shed some light on its project, called Grand Central Dispatch, at its Worldwide Developer Conference in June, but most real detail was shared only in with programmers sworn to secrecy. Now the company has begun talking more publicly about it and other deeper projects to take advantage of graphics chips and Intel's 64-bit processors.

The moves align Apple better with changes in computing. For years, chipmakers such as Intel and Advanced Micro Devices had steadily increased the clock rate of their processors, and programmers got accustomed to a performance boost with each new generation. But earlier this decade, problems derailed the gigahertz train. … Read more

Audi Sportscar Experience at Infineon Raceway

Infineon Raceway in beautiful Sonoma, California is a great place take in some rays and watch fast cars speed around its landscape. Within the last week or so, Infineon has played host to Indy Car, drifting and go-kart racing. This coming week, the varied trend continues as the Sonoma track brings back the popular Audi Sportscar Experience this week for another round of fun for amateur driving in the newest Audi cars.

This clip comes from a recent Audi Sportscar Experience extravaganza at Infineon Raceway in June 2009. What's neat about this video is that you get the view … Read more

Formula Drift Championship in Sonoma

Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California is usually busy around this time of year, and this last weekend was no exception. While much of the attention was on the Indy Car Grand Prix race held on Sunday with commercials pimping such Indy Car stars as Danica Patrick (duh) and Helio Castroneves, the Formula Drift company had an event of its own at Infineon the night before featuring Round 6 of the Locked and Loaded series.

Formula D's "Locked and Loaded" was held on Saturday August 22 at Infineon Raceway, and based on the video here it looked like … Read more

RoboCar package gives students taste of things to come

For those who want a shot at the DARPA Grand Challenge but can't afford the gear, a Japanese company is offering a 1/10-scale robot-powered model car with all the bells and whistles so they can at least get their autonomous feet wet.

It's still not cheap, but at $7,000 the ZMP Car Robotics Platform, or RoboCar, provides all the tools needed to test your applied robotic technology, autonomous movement, and inter-vehicular and car/human communications expertise (PDF).

The RoboCar includes a built-in stereo camera, image recognition module, laser range finder, gyro and acceleration sensors, independent rotary … Read more

Dario Franchitti wins at Indy Grand Prix Sonoma

In case ya didn't know, I report to the Cnet offices here in beautiful San Francisco, California. Being a current resident here in Northern Cali, I have seen many commercials for the Indy Car competition at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California. Given its proximity to this author and the hype surrounding one of the bigger races on the Indy Car calendar, I decided to give today's video blog to covering yesterday's 2009 edition of the Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma.

As some of you may know, Indy Car is very stingy about letting video out to the … Read more

Lewis Hamilton vs. Felipe Massa for the Formula One Championship

A couple of weekends ago at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix, two Formula One race car drivers made headlines, but for very different reasons. Reigning F1 Champion Lewis Hamilton chalked up his first victory of the 2009 season by finishing first at the race, and Felipe Massa suffered a career-threatening crash and injury that has pretty much ended his hope for a world title this season. I've blogged about these subjects in greater depth (i.e., more depth than I've written in this specific blog) earlier this week, so I'll spare you the repeat (and since some … Read more

Lewis Hamilton: Formula 1 Champion

Back in the last weekend of July, Brazilian race car driver Felipe Massa suffered horrific injuries that hopefully will not mark the end of his career. However, all was not bad news coming from the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix, as reigning Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton scooped up his first win of the 2009 F1 season.

Try as I did, I was unsuccessful in finding a compelling web video of Lewis Hamilton's victory in Budapest. However, I found a really cool web video compilation of highlights from Hamilton's very successful 2008 F1 season, all set to a blazing … Read more

Felipe Massa's Better Days: Victory at Turkish Grand Prix 2008

As some of you already know (either by my blog from yesterday or from other sports news sites), Formula 1 race car driver Felipe Massa suffered a nearly lethal crash at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix due to a freak accident - a random car part coming off another vehicle which subsequently hits Massa in the head, leaving him temporarily unconscious. Well, Felipe's racing career hasn't been all bad; in fact, he had an impressive year racing for Formula 1 in 2008 where he garnered 6 wins and finished in 2nd place in the overall standings. (Coincidentally, the … Read more

Felipe Massa's Career-Threatening crash at Hungarian Grand Prix

Jimmie Johnson's victory at the Autism Speaks 400 wasn't the only big news coming from the racing world two weekends ago. The FIA Formula One World Championship held its annual Hungarian Grand Prix that same weekend, and while Lewis Hamilton picked up his first win of the 2009 season at this race, perhaps the biggest news concerned the horrific accident that befell Brazilian F1 driver Felipe Massa on July 25 while attempting to qualify for this championship race.

I was only able to locate one web video of the accident, and while it isn't of the highest … Read more

This Week: A Salute to Bad Ass American Rides

This coming weekend, our country will be celebrating the annual Fourth of July holiday. And what better way to celebrate the rich history of the USA than with a week long tribute to some of the most bad ass American automobiles ever made? I sure can't think of a better way, so here we go with the Super Muscle Car Shootout!

This web video is actually a trailer for the Muscle Car Shootout that aired on the Speed Channel in 2006, but the cars showcased here are simply timeless. Some of the most powerful American performance car classics are … Read more