Samsung backs Apple's 64-bit chip smartphone chip switch

Samsung has confirmed its next high-end smartphones will feature 64-bit processors, the announcement follows the launch of the iPhone 5S, the first handset to include the technology.

 

However, experts say most apps are unlikely to see much immediate benefit from the shift from 32-bit tech and that it could introduce compatibility problems in the future.
The number of bits in relation to a microprocessor affects the size of the numbers that it can handle.
This has implications for the amount of memory that can be directly accessed without data having to be swapped back and forth.
In the case of 32-bit architecture, the amount of memory than can be addressed is two to the power of 32, in other words 4.3 billion values, or four gigabytes of memory.
In the case of 64-bit architecture the processor can theoretically address 18,400,000 trillion values.
If a program has been written to take advantage of a 64-bit operating system, it should mean the processor can access data that is in this larger memory rather than retrieving it from, for example, the hard disk. This speeds up the whole processing chain.

source bbc
 

Syria crisis: US lawmakers dismiss Putin editorial

US lawmakers have responded negatively to Russian President Vladimir Putin's op-ed in the New York Times about the Syria crisis.

The White House has not officially responded to the piece but other US officials have discounted it.

Mr Putin's editorial, a direct personal appeal to Americans, argued a US military strike against Syria could unleash a new wave of terrorism.

source bbc

Myanmar's Suu Kyi says Polish path to democracy inspired her

Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi told Polish democracy champion Lech Walesa on Thursday that she was inspired by how Poland had peacefully ended authoritarian rule and hoped her homeland would follow the same path to freedom.

source reuters.com

Kerry to hear Russia’s surprise Syria plan

U.S. officials said they hoped Kerry and Lavrov could agree on a blueprint for Syrian disarmament whose main points would be adopted in a U.N. Security Council resolution. The five permanent veto-wielding powers of the U.N. Security Council met in New York on Wednesday. Britain, France and the United States want the Security Council to include tough consequences if Assad is seen to renege. An initial French draft called for delivering an ultimatum to Assad’s government to give up its chemical weapons arsenal or face punitive measures… Kerry is accompanied by a large retinue of experts in anticipation of detailed talks on how to turn the Russian offer into a concrete plan along the lines of disarmament accords between Washington and Moscow since the days of the Cold War.

source reuters.com

Estonia PM says voter bailout fatigue easing, open to new Greece bailout

The small Baltic country, one of the euro zone's poorest members, has been praised by analysts as a model of northern European austerity pitted against crisis-hit southern Europe, a year ago Prime Minister Andrus Ansip told Reuters that bailout fatigue among voters threatened the currency bloc, but he now strikes a more optimistic chord.

"We have to understand that we are not just helping Greece or other countries, we are also protecting ourselves," Ansip told Reuters in an interview.

"So we are creating those firewalls, and when those firewalls are high enough then we don't have to spend so much money on fire extinguishers and most likely we will not get fire in our house. So we have to go on, we have to be flexible," International lenders estimate that Greece will need around 10-11 billion euros from the second half of 2014, although several euro zone governments are reluctant to extend further loans because of negative public opinion.

Greece has already been bailed out twice since 2010 with 240 billion euros worth of agreements coordinated by the European Central Bank, European Union and International Monetary Fund," bailout fatigue, this is not a hot topic in our country," he said, contrasting it to controversy surrounding bailouts that raged after Estonia joined the euro zone in 2011.

"When we decided to join the ESM (European Stability Mechanism), for many people in Estonia this was a message that we just lost 2 billion euros (in contributions to the euro zone bailout fund)," Ansip said, at that time, media and politicians in Estonia were angry that one of the euro zone's poorest nations had to help far richer Greece.

source reuters.com

Assad: Syria to hand over chem arms in 1 month, only if US drops strike plans

“Syria is handing over its chemical weapons under international supervision because of Russia,” Assad said in an interview with state-run news channel Rossiya-24. “The US threats did not influence the decision.”

Within days Damascus promises to submit to the United Nations all documents required for joining the chemical weapons ban treaty. A month after Syria signs the Chemical Weapons Convention it will start handing over information on chemical weapons to international organizations.

“I believe the agreement will come into force a month after the signing and Syria will start submitting data on its chemical weapons stockpile to international organizations. These are standard procedures and we are going to stick to them,” he said.

“It doesn’t mean that Syria will sign the documents, fulfill the obligations and that’s it. It’s a bilateral process aimed, first of all, at making the US stop pursuing its policy of threats against Syria,” Assad said, adding that a lot would also depend on the extent to which Russia’s proposal is accepted.

source rt.com

Fukushima tritium levels spike 15-fold in three days

In just three days, readings of tritium in groundwater near the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant have soared more than 15 times, the operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant admitted, results of recently tested water taken from the well some 20 meters south from a number of storage tanks have showed that levels of tritium have now reached 64,000 becquerels per liter, on Monday a new hotspot of radiation was detected in groundwater from an observation well next to a faulty water storage tank. some 3,200 becquerels per liter of radioactive substances were recorded in the well, back on September 9, the level of tritium – a potentially dangerous radioactive isotope – from the same location stood at 29,000 compared to 4,200 becquerels per liter on Sunday.

source rt.com