Month: January 2016

The XPRT Women Code-a-Thon

on January 28, 2016

As Justin explained last week, we’ve resolved the issue we found with the TouchXPRT CP. I’m happy to say that the testing went well and that we released CP3 this week.

It’s been only three weeks since we announced the XPRT Weekly Tech Spotlight, and we already have another big announcement! Principled Technologies has joined with ChickTech Seattle to host the first ever XPRT Women Code-a-Thon! In this two-day event, participants will compete to create the best new candidate workload for WebXPRT or MobileXPRT. The workloads can’t duplicate existing workloads, so we are looking forward to seeing the new ideas.

Judges will study all the workloads and award prizes to the top three: $2,500 for first place, $1,500 for second place, and $1,000 for third place. Anyone interested can register here.

PT and the BenchmarkXPRT Development Community are committed to promoting the advancement of women in STEM, but we also win by doing good. As with the NCSU senior project, the BenchmarkXPRT Development Community will get some fresh perspectives and some new experimental test tools. Everyone wins!

So much has happened in 2016 and January isn’t even over yet. The year is off to a great start!

Eric

Posted in Benchmark metrics, BenchmarkXPRT, BenchmarkXPRT development community, Collaborative benchmark development, Future of performance evaluation, MobileXPRT, Performance benchmarking, TouchXPRT, TouchXPRT 2016, WebXPRT, What makes a good benchmark?, XPRT Weekly Tech Spotlight, XPRT Women Code-a-Thon |

TouchXPRT 2016 Community Preview 3 is available

By Eric Hale

on January 28, 2016

Today we are releasing TouchXPRT 2016 Community Preview 3 (CP 3). As we discussed in the blog, CP 3 resolves an issue reported on some systems, where the Create Slideshow test would take longer than expected to complete due to the output video not rendering correctly.

As with all community previews, TouchXPRT 2016 CP 3 is available only to community members. Members may download the preview from the TouchXPRT tab in the Members’ Area.

For more details about TouchXPRT 2016, please consult the release notes for further details (login required).

After you try out CP 3, please send us your comments. Either post them to the forum or mail them to BenchmarkXPRTsupport@principledtechnologies.com. If you send us information that’s relevant to the entire community, we may post an anonymous version of your comments to the forum.

Thanks for your participation!

Posted in BenchmarkXPRT development community, Collaborative benchmark development, Community Preview, Performance benchmarking, TouchXPRT, TouchXPRT 2016, TouchXPRT development process, TouchXPRT release cycle, Windows 10 |

Detective work

By Justin Greene

on January 21, 2016

A few weeks ago, we described an issue with TouchXPRT’s Create Slideshow test. On some systems, this test would take longer than expected to complete due to the output video not rendering correctly. Since then, we released TouchXPRT 2016 CP2, which includes a check that verifies the output and reports an error if there’s a problem.

It took a lot of detective work, but I’m happy to say that we’ve been able to resolve this issue. We had to make a couple of changes. First, we changed the pixel format in which the photo content is read from GUID_WICPixelFormat32bppPBGRA to GUID_WICPixelFormat32bppBGR. Second, we changed the media format of the input into the video converter from MFVideoFormat_ARGB32 to MFVideoFormat_RGB32.

After making these changes, the Create Slideshow test ran in the expected amount of time, and rendered the output video correctly.

In our testing so far, results have not changed noticeably. However, we’re continuing to test. We want to be sure that the updated build is stable and that results are comparable to earlier TouchXPRT CPs. We’ll then release it to the community.

Here’s looking forward to the release of TouchXPRT 2016 to the world at large!

Posted in BenchmarkXPRT development community, TouchXPRT, TouchXPRT 2016, TouchXPRT development process, TouchXPRT release cycle, TouchXPRT results, Windows 10 |

In the spotlight

By Eric Hale

on January 14, 2016

I’m happy to be back in North Carolina, but I had a really great time at CES. I talked to over a dozen companies about the XPRTs and the XPRT Weekly Tech Spotlight, and had some good conversations. Hopefully, some of these companies’ devices will be among the first ones we showcase when the XPRT Weekly Tech Spotlight goes live next month.

Of course, I saw some really great tech at CES! Amazing TVs and cars, magic mirrors, all kinds of drones, and the list goes on. Before the show, the Internet of Things was predicted to be big this year, and boy, was it! Smart refrigerators, door locks, and thermostats were just the beginning. Some of my favorite examples were the chopsticks and footbath—both Bluetooth enabled—and “the world’s first remote controlled game shoe.”

Clearly IoT is the Wild West of technology right now. We’re had some conversations about how the XPRTs might be able to help consumers navigate the chaos. However, with a class of products this diverse, there are a lot of issues to consider. If you have any thoughts about this, let us know!

Eric

Posted in CES, Collaborative benchmark development, Future of performance evaluation, Internet of things, IoT, What makes a good benchmark?, XPRT Weekly Tech Spotlight |

CES day 1

By Eric Hale

on January 7, 2016

It’s Wednesday night as I’m writing this. CES started in earnest today, and I had a really great day. I saw a lot of cool technology. I really liked the TVs. As I tweeted earlier today, I’m not sure that real life looks that good! That being said, the Ferrari was probably my favorite.

I’m not yet convinced about having the family calendar on a tablet embedded in the refrigerator. However, several earnest people made a very good case for it.

This morning PT announced a new program called the XPRT Weekly Tech Spotlight. This is a new way for device vendors and manufacturers to share verified results with buyers around the world. I was happy to talk with a number of different vendors about it and about the XPRTs.

I’ve also met with some community members while I’ve been here. It’s always great to hear from the community, but there’s nothing like being able to sit and talk. The conversations raised some interesting issues, and I’ll be writing about them in future blog posts.

I’m really looking forward to the rest of the show!

Eric

Posted in BenchmarkXPRT, BenchmarkXPRT development community, CES, Collaborative benchmark development, XPRT Weekly Tech Spotlight |

XPRT Weekly Tech Spotlight lets device makers share verified results with consumers

By Eric Hale

on January 6, 2016

Durham, NC, January 6 –Principled Technologies (PT) is pleased to announce the XPRT Weekly Tech Spotlight, a new way for device vendors and manufacturers to share verified results with buyers around the world.

Every week, XPRT Weekly Tech Spotlight will feature a different tech device and post its PT-verified BenchmarkXPRT performance results and specs online, so buyers everywhere will have the facts they need to make smart buying decisions.

Firms interested in showcasing their products can send their devices to PT for testing. PT will showcase devices to let buyers know how the devices fared. For more information, please contact XPRTSpotlight@PrincipledTechnologies.com or send your device to:

XPRT Weekly Tech Spotlight c/o
Principled Technologies
1007 Slater Road, Suite 300
Durham, NC, 27703

XPRT Weekly Tech Spotlight will make it easier for consumers to shop for a new laptop, smartphone, tablet, or PC.

Results for the debut device will appear in the first week of February at facts.pt/spotlight-devices.

About Principled Technologies, Inc.
Principled Technologies, Inc. is a leading provider of technology marketing and learning & development services. It administers the BenchmarkXPRT Development Community.

Principled Technologies, Inc. is located in Durham, North Carolina, USA. For more information, please visit www.PrincipledTechnologies.com.

Company Contact
Eric Hale
Principled Technologies, Inc.
1007 Slater Road, Suite #300
Durham, NC 27703

Posted in Press Releases |

Month: January 2016

The XPRT Women Code-a-Thon

TouchXPRT 2016 Community Preview 3 is available

Detective work

In the spotlight

CES day 1

XPRT Weekly Tech Spotlight lets device makers share verified results with consumers

Check out the other XPRTs: