something in the way

Recently I've been playing a lot with OpenCL, the new API / framework designed to handle cross-platform parallel computing (i.e. a simple way of running code simultaneously on all cores of your CPU, GPU or other processors). Implementations have been cropping up this year in NVidia drivers or ATI drivers, but most famously it's included with Mac OSX 10.6 Snow Leopard.

To cut a long story short I've been working on a simple-to-use C++ wrapper for some of the most common functions, imaginatively called ofxOpenCL and here is a little demo of 1 million particles running at 100-200fps.

NOTE: The Vimeo compression destroys most of the particles, so I suggest downloading the quicktime directly from the vimeo page at http://www.vimeo.com/7332496

Frame-rate is around 100-200fps running on a macbook pro with GF 9600GT. That's 100-200fps on a laptop! (albeit a pretty decent one), but I'm dying to try this on a GF 285 GTX - which has 7.5x the number of cores, 2.5x the fillrate and 3.5x the memory bandwidth - for only £250!!

The kernel for this is surprisingly simple:

__kernel void updateParticleWithoutCollision(__global Particle* pIn, __global float2* pOut, const float2 mousePos, const float2 dimensions){
	int id = get_global_id(0);
	__global Particle *p = &pIn[id];
 
	float2 diff = mousePos - pOut[id];
	float invDistSQ = 1.0f / dot(diff, diff);
	diff *= 300.0f * invDistSQ;
 
	p->vel += (dimensions*0.5 - pOut[id]) * CENTER_FORCE2 - diff* p->mass;
	pOut[id] += p->vel;
	p->vel *= DAMP2;
 
	float speed2 = dot(p->vel, p->vel);
	if(speed2<MIN_SPEED2) pOut[id] = mousePos + diff * (1 + p->mass);
}

This example is based on Rui's opencl example at http://vimeo.com/7298380.

Discussion on the matter at http://www.openframeworks.cc/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=2728&p=15107#p15...

source code for ofxOpenCL and the above example at
http://code.google.com/p/ofxmsaof/downloads/list
(the SVN is likely to be more recent).

One day after we called out Google for holding onto the Android 2.0 SDK, it magically appeared on their website. Developers can now grab the new SDK from the official Android site.

Hightlights of the Android 2.0 platform include:

Contacts and accounts

• Multiple accounts can be added to a device for email and contact synchronization, including Exchange accounts. (Handset manufacturers can choose whether to include Exchange support in their devices.)
• Developers can create sync adapters that provide synchronization with additional data sources.
• Quick Contact for Android provides instant access to a contact’s information and communication modes. For example, a user can tap a contact photo and select to call, SMS, or email the person. Other applications such as Email, Messaging, and Calendar can also reveal the Quick Contact widget when you touch a contact photo or status icon.

• Sync support for contacts from multiple data sources including Exchange. Handset manufacturers can choose whether or not to include Exchange support in their devices.
• New way to hover on a person to see more info and select communication mode (for example, phone, SMS, email).

Email

• Exchange support.
• Combined inbox to browse email from multiple accounts in one page.

Messaging

• Search functionality for all saved SMS and MMS messages.
• Auto delete the oldest messages in a conversation when a defined limit is reached.

Camera

• Built-in flash support
• Digital zoom
• Scene mode
• White balance
• Color effect
• Macro focus

Android virtual keyboard

• An improved keyboard layout to makes it easier to hit the correct characters and improve typing speed.
• The framework’s multi-touch support ensures that key presses aren’t missed while typing rapidly with two fingers.
• A smarter dictionary learns from word usage and automatically includes contact names as suggestions.

Browser

• Refreshed UI with actionable browser URL bar enables users to directly tap the address bar for instant searches and navigation.
• Bookmarks with web page thumbnails.
• Support for double-tap zoom.
• Support for HTML5:
  • Database API support, for client-side databases using SQL.
  • Application cache support, for offline applications.
  • Geolocation API support, to provide location information about the device.
  • <video> tag support in fullscreen mode.

Calendar

• Agenda view provides infinite scrolling.
• Events indicate the attending status for each invitee.
• Invite new guests to events.

Media Framework

Revamped graphics architecture for improved performance that enables better hardware acceleration.

Bluetooth

• Bluetooth 2.1
• New BT profiles: Object Push Profile (OPP) and Phone Book Access Profile (PBAP)

New Framework APIs

Android 2.0 includes several new developer APIs. For an overview of new APIs, see the Android 2.0 version notes.

For a complete report of all API changes, see the API Differences Report.

Sir James Dyson asks questions about products that no one else seem to ask. Like does a fan need blades? Apparently not. Look at that thing. Amazing. (via not cot)

Dunbar's number is 150.

And he's not compromising, no matter how much you whine about it.

Dunbar postulated that the typical human being can only have 150 friends. One hundred fifty people in the tribe. After that, we just aren't cognitively organized to handle and track new people easily. That's why, without external forces, human tribes tend to split in two after they reach this size. It's why WL Gore limits the size of their offices to 150 (when they grow, they build a whole new building).

Facebook and Twitter and blogs fly in the face of Dunbar's number. They put hundreds or thousands of friendlies in front of us, people we would have lost touch with (why? because of Dunbar!) except that they keep digitally reappearing.

Reunions are a great example of Dunbar's number at work. You might like a dozen people you meet at that reunion, but you can't keep up, because you're full.

Some people online are trying to flout Dunbar's number, to become connected and actual friends with tens of thousands of people at once. And guess what? It doesn't scale. You might be able to stretch to 200 or 400, but no, you can't effectively engage at a tribal level with a thousand people. You get the politician's glassy-eyed gaze or the celebrity's empty stare. And then the nature of the relationship is changed.

I can tell when this happens. I'm guessing you can too.

The Carlsbad Temptress by bryan snyder from Bryan Snyder on Vimeo.

(via Animal)

Apple has a fair amount of video on their site, and now you will find it displayed via <video> As always, it looks very nice indeed. The video controls look very much like the new Quicktime X:

All via the code:

Of course, for all the deets on video, check out brother Mark.