Nvidia has upgraded its CUDA GPGPU programming framework to add a low-level virtual machine (LLVM) and enhance overall application performance.
According to the company, the LLVM offers an automatic 10 percent increase the application performance.
While Nvidia commends the advantages of having an LLVM compiler, it also offers a visual profiler that will assist developers and coders optimize codes.
Fact of the matter is that GPGPU coding needs substantial optimization in almost all cases for it …

Sony has announced that it is developing several new image sensors for smartphones and portable devices.
The company’s sensors use a new RGBW (red-green-blue-white) matrix that inserts a white pixel to every RGB combination, which aims to enhance light sensitivity and low-light operation.
While the addition of white pixels usually takes down image quality, Sony has discovered a method to work around with a new algorithm for processing images.
Sony’s new sensors allow users to create High …

Google has teamed up with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to open source the software tool, App Inventor for Android.
The search giant wants to put App Inventor, an offshoot of MIT professor Hal Abelson’s Scratch programming language, into good use after the experimental app left the defunct Google Labs.
In August of last year and a week after the announcement, Google and MIT both decided that App Inventor would live under the university’s Center for Mobile Learning.
Under …

Daily deals giant Groupon has been off radar for a while now after its largely successful IPO last year. The company has been quietly working around its dwindling daily deals business as it tries to find firmer ground from which to work from. In the run up to the IPO, there were many sceptics who said Groupon had no sound business model and this has been proved somewhat true although not in a manner that anyone would have expected.

Groupon have instead of looking to pivot entirely have …

Over 100 of the biggest banks and financial institutions in the US use FICO to evaluate the credit-worthiness of borrowers. But ina bid to go deeper and get richer evaluations, a group of innovative startups are looking elsewhere for help in determining who deserves to be lent money and who doesn’t.
Money lending startups LendingClub, ZestCash and BillFloat have decided to look towards technology for the answers. The three startups, which lend small amounts of money for emergency use …

Intel has announced that overclockers of its Sandy Bridge processors will receive insurance once the chips burn up as part of its Performance Tuning Protection Plan (PTPP).
While the world’s largest chip maker always warned gamers and enthusiasts from consistently overclocking, Intel also unexpectedly promised to provide extended protection apart from the three-year warranty it currently offers.
Intel chips that support PTPP include Core i5-2500K, Core i7-2600K, Core i7-2700K, Core i7-3930K …

Samsung has started the production of its highly efficient embedded multi-chip packaging (eMCP) memory for use in entry- and mid-level smartphones and tablets.
The South Korean electronics giant, also the world’s largest DRAM maker, will use 20nm and 30nm DRAM chips for eMCP.
“Samsung will further accelerate growth in the mobile device market as it extends the advanced memory segment by providing a more expansive line-up of EMCP solutions in 2012,” said Myungho Kim, VP of Memory …

A report from PricewaterhouseCoopers shows that overall venture investment fell to its lowest point in the year compared to previous quarters. This decline is attributable to the tumbling of seed capital funding that slumped 40% over the last quarter.
Capital commitments however remained stable enough to buoy 2011 figures to more or less where they were in 2010. Another interesting trend saw early stage funding hit an all time high which may be indicative of a cycle of new startup funding …

The Google-dedicated Startup Gambit competition came to a close and a NY startup that deals with cloud-based software took home the $100,000 prize. The Kansas-based competition was dedicated to Google who have installed their super-high-speed Internet network in Kansas and which is set to go live some time this year. The competition, which was organized by Kansas City incubator Think Big Partners LLC, took entries from startups that could demonstrate how they would leverage the high speed …

Following in the footsteps of Angry Birds, Fruit Ninja makers Halfbrick Studios have moved to consolidate their success with a line of plush toy fruity characters. The new line of toys, which the gaming company will produce in conjunction with Jazzwares Inc, will include plush toys, headphones, ear buds and speakers. Currently available on the store is Sensei, the “fruit slicing master” and available for pre-order are a likeable Watermelon and a Training Pack with more toys …