The difference between L2 and L3 cache Recently we discussed how caches work, what the difference is between L1 and L2, and the various design elements that determine how fast (and how effective) a CPU's cache is. Today, we're going to take one step further and explore the difference between L2 and L3 caches. At its simplest level, an L3 cache is just a larger, slower version of the L2 cache. Back when most chips were single-core processors, this was generally true. The first L3 caches were actually built on the motherboard itself, connected to the CPU via the backside bus. ExtremeTech

Infamous "podcast patent" heads to trial Jim Logan is an archetype in the patent world -- he personifies the great American invention story. In 1996, Logan says, he had a brilliant idea: a digital music player that would automatically update with new episodes. Think iPod, five years before the iPod. "Our product concept, which spawned the patent, was all about a handheld MP3 player that could download off the Internet some kind of personalized audio experience," he told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in an April interview. Ars Technica

UCLA, Cisco & more join forces to replace TCP/IP Big name academic and vendor organizations have unveiled a consortium this week that's pushing Named Data Networking (NDN), an emerging Internet architecture designed to better accommodate data and application access in an increasingly mobile world. The Named Data Networking Consortium members, which include universities such as UCLA and China's Tsinghua University as well as vendors such as Cisco and VeriSign, are meeting this week... NetworkWorld

Drone developers consider obstacles that cannot be flown around The tech industry's enthusiasm for building small delivery drones may be getting ahead of figuring out what to do with them. On Thursday, with much fanfare, Google revealed Project Wing, an experimental program out of the company's long-term projects division, called Google X. In a video, Google showed a buzzing aircraft -- half plane, half helicopter -- using a 200-foot fishing line to drop dog treats to a farmer in Queensland, Australia. The NY Times

Meet the shadowy tech brokers that deliver your data to the NSA Picture two federal agents knocking at your door, ready to serve you a top secret order from the U.S. government, demanding that you hand over every shred of data you own -- from usernames and passwords, phone records, emails, and social networking and credit card data. You can't tell anyone, and your only viable option is to comply. For some U.S. Internet service providers (ISP) and phone companies, this scenario happens -- and often. ZDNet

Shenzhen trip report – visiting the world's manufacturing ecosystem Last year, a group of Media Lab students visited Shenzhen with, bunnie, an old friend and my hardware guru. He's probably best known for hacking the Xbox, the chumby, an open source networked hardware appliance, and for helping so many people with their hardware, firmware and software designs. bunnie is "our man in Shenzhen" and understands the ecosystem of suppliers and factories in China better than anyone I know. Joi Ito

The masked avengers In the mid-nineteen-seventies, when Christopher Doyon was a child in rural Maine, he spent hours chatting with strangers on CB radio. His handle was Big Red, for his hair. Transmitters lined the walls of his bedroom, and he persuaded his father to attach two directional antennas to the roof of their house. CB radio was associated primarily with truck drivers, but Doyon and others used it to form the sort of virtual community that later appeared on the Internet... The New Yorker

Gaming journalism is over Slate readers are over, declining -- a dead demographic. Why on Earth would I start a column with this thesis? There is no faster way to alienate my audience -- that is, the people who pay my bills. And yet, this is exactly what writers at not one but half a dozen online gaming publications did to theiraudiences last week, and it points to a significant shift in the business of gaming. Gamers are not over, but gaming journalism is. Slate

The Jack Ma way At the resplendent China World Hotel in Beijing, scores of cameras snapped as colorful confetti floated down from the ceiling. It was Aug. 11, 2005, and this was the global coming-out party for Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce upstart. After months of frantic negotiations, the American Internet giant Yahoo had agreed to invest $1 billion in cash and create deeper business ties, in exchange for a 40 percent stake in Alibaba. The NY Times

Inside a video game voiceover studio Jennifer Hale asks a few questions about the character. That's less than 30 seconds after she walks in the room. Her arrival prompts the usual bit of Hollywood hug and kiss, and some hello-how-are-yous, but then it's down to business. Who is this character? What is she doing? Why is she here? And then, just a minute later, she's in the booth and she's nailing it. Polygon

Earth's new address: 'Solar System, Milky Way, Laniakea' The supercluster of galaxies that includes the Milky Way is 100 times bigger in volume and mass than previously thought, a team of astronomers says. They have mapped the enormous region and given it the name Laniakea -- Hawaiian for 'immeasurable heaven'. Nature.com

Mysterious phony cell towers could be intercepting your calls Like many of the ultra-secure phones that have come to market in the wake of Edward Snowden's leaks, the CryptoPhone 500, which is marketed in the U.S. by ESD America and built on top of an unassuming Samsung Galaxy SIII body, features high-powered encryption. Popular Science

I just spent two weeks being a space commander "Don't be That VR Guy," I keep thinking. I've spent the last couple of weeks playing Elite: Dangerous, a PC space-sim that works with the newest Oculus Rift virtual reality headset. It's been pretty amazing, and I'm having a hard time not being That VR Guy. You know That VR Guy, right? Kotaku