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Showing posts from February, 2024

Samsung’s speedy new microSD cards are built for on-device AI and toughness

Web Hosting & Remote IT Support Samsung just revealed a new generation of microSD cards that support the SD Express standard enabling lightning-fast performance. In the official announcement post , the company states it has begun sampling tests for the 256GB model which they claim will have a maximum read speed of 800MB per second. To put that into perspective, our pick for the best SD card for 2024 is the Transcend SDXC UHS-II U3 and it only has a top speed of 285MB per second. Samsung is even trying to surpass the best SATA SSDs as those drives peak at 560MB. A 1TB UHS-1 model is also in the works. It’s currently entering into mass production although the post doesn’t say what the read speed will be. Instead, Samsung decided to focus on the card’s durability. The 1TB version is being designed to withstand “challenging environments” with features giving protection against water, resistance to extreme temperatures, and, apparently X-ray blasts. The perfect time The inclusi

'A single optical fiber': Scientists build a silicon-less computer that use light waves and surpasses existing systems for classification — could this be the ultimate AI CPU?

Web Hosting & Remote IT Support In an era where the ecological footprint of large-scale AI systems is increasingly being scrutinized, a team of international scientists has developed a potentially game-changing new solution.  The team, led by Prof. Mario Chemnitz and Dr. Bennet Fischer from Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology (Leibniz IPHT) in Jena, has built a computer that uses light waves instead of silicon, and it's all done through a single optical fiber.  The researchers have leveraged the unique interactions of light waves within optical fibers to create an advanced artificial learning system. This clever method eliminates the need for extensive electronic infrastructure, which is a marked departure from traditional systems that rely on computer chips containing thousands of electronic components.  Diagnosing COVID-19 infections "We utilize a single optical fiber to mimic the computational power of numerous neural networks," explains Prof. Chemnitz.

Brace yourself for another possible Netflix price hike this year – here's why

Web Hosting & Remote IT Support There’s a non-zero percent chance that Netflix will hike prices again in multiple countries later this year. The prediction comes via a group of analysts from Swiss finance company, UBS Securities, telling people to “expect to see rate increases” due to a shifting entertainment ecosystem. Among other factors, they cite how the platform’s total American viewership rose from 7.7 percent to 7.9 percent in January 2024. What’s more, traditional media companies are shifting more towards streaming services as time moves forward. Businesses will strive to curate their libraries, cut production spending, and focus more on “content licensing” to better consolidate their platforms.  Netflix, in particular, is in a prime position to benefit from the shifting landscape, hinting that the company may feel confident enough to raise prices another time. After all, they do have a collection of lauded shows , movies , and a diverse array of video games. All the

How does AI play a part in a world striving for net-zero?

Web Hosting & Remote IT Support Artificial intelligence (AI) holds the potential to solve some of the thorniest problems facing humanity, including the challenges of climate change. But at the same time, the technology - in particular, generative AI - uses a vast amount of computational power, and consequently a huge amount of energy. This is a problem, and one which is only going to grow.  The amount of computing power required for cutting-edge AI models is doubling every five or six months, and it’s reasonable to imagine that it will continue to increase as demand for the technology booms. Data centers already consume up to 1.5% of the world’s electricity supply, and energy consumption is responsible for around 75% of man-made greenhouse gas emissions in the EU. Recent research by Gartner predicts that, “by 2030, AI could help reduce global GHG emissions by 5% to 10%”. However, by the same year, Gartner predicts that “AI could consume up to 3.5% of the world’s electricity”.

'Ambient battlefield' is the strangest ASMR trend that just might help you sleep

Web Hosting & Remote IT Support Close your eyes and imagine a calm, relaxing scene. What can you hear? Maybe the gentle patter of rain, a rumble of thunder, damp mud squelching, the distant gunfire of WWI fighter planes... No, you haven't switched your 'goodnight' mix to your 'zombie outbreak' playlist. Some people really are using 'battlefield ambience' to get to sleep. If 'trench warfare' isn't what springs to mind when you hear the word 'relaxation', you'd be just as surprised as TikTok user blusoho when she discovered her husband snoozing to the sounds of warfare. Even the best mattress couldn't help most of us drift off with this kind of racket in the background. But while this viral video has shocked a corner of the internet, there is some logic to this unexpected sleep routine. @blusoho Like how???? 😭😭 ♬ original sound - blusoho The repetitive rumbling that defines many of these warfare ambience videos bears

'Fastest SSD on the planet': Crucial's T705 tops benchmarks as reviewers rave about its performance — but it is far too expensive and a RAID-0 setup may beat it

Web Hosting & Remote IT Support Crucial's new T705 SSD certainly looks impressive on paper - it claims to be 25x faster than SATA and nearly 2x faster than Crucial's fastest Gen4 SSD, with sequential reads/writes up to 14,500/12,700MB/s. The drive, which is available in capacities up to 4TB, is engineered with Micron's 232-layer TLC NAND3 and compatible with Intel Core 13th-14th Gen desktop CPUs & AMD Ryzen 7000 series CPU. Additional features include an aluminum and copper heatsink, adaptive thermal protection, and hardware encryption for storage security. If you’ve had your eye on the SSD ever since it was announced, the good news is that the first reviews are in, and it’s every bit as impressive as you might hope, but with some important caveats. Fast, but expensive ServeTheHome 's review reveals the exceptional performance of the Crucial T705, stating that it is "right at the limits of what a PCIe Gen 5 x4 link can sustain." The review notes

Eve Energy's new outdoor smart plug may give you new ways to control your home

Web Hosting & Remote IT Support Smart home brand Eve Energy is apparently working on a new outdoor smart plug that may give you the ability to control other devices on the network. This information comes via a post found on the official website for the Connectivity Standards A l liance (CSA) . It consists of an image of the plug alongside a brief description of what it can do. The device itself is compact and square-shaped with what appears to be a black flap for protecting the outlets. According to the accompanying text, Eve’s plug will allow homeowners to control their house’s smart lights and appliances either through voice commands or through the official app . It’ll even tell you how much energy your other devices use.  (Image credit: CSA/Eve Energy) CSA’s product page goes on to state the outdoor plug will be compatible with both the Thread and Matter standards. The former ensures home network connections perform reliably at all times while the latter secures t

VMware launches new VeloCloud SASE to help tie together all your edge infrastructure

Web Hosting & Remote IT Support VMware is harking back to the past for the launch of its new SASE offering at Mobile World Congress 2024 . The company has unveiled VMware VeloCloud SASE, a single-vendor SASE solution bringing together VeloCloud SD-WAN, and Symantec SSE. VMware acquired VeloCloud back in 2017, and originally phased out the company's branding some years later, but has now brought it back as it launches a new SASE product. VeloCloud SASE return Revealing the news in a pre-brief ahead of MWC 2024, Abe Ankumah, Broadcom’s Head of SD-WAN, Software-Defined Edge Division, noted that the launch would help allow customers to modernize their underlying infrastructure whilst also monetizing new services. He added that VMware's approach to the software-designed edge has to focus on enabling a right-size infrastructure (in terms of shrinking the tech stack), zero-touch orchestration (as edge locations are increasingly distributed, and not always constantly online

Need a phone with a week-long battery? Energizer's new beast has your back

Web Hosting & Remote IT Support Energizer and its collaborative partner Avenir Telecom surprised many at MWC 2024 when the two unveiled a new rugged smartphone that houses a massive 28,000mAh battery. It’s called the Hard Case P28K and it looks like a brick. You can find photographs taken by people at the event on X (the platform formerly known as Twitter) comparing the device to other phones. There, you’ll see it completely dwarfs an iPhone . Information about the P28K was initially scarce; however, the company managed to give us the inside scoop by giving us an official specs sheet. According to Energizer, the phone has a talk time of 122 hours (roughly five days) and a standby time of 2,253 hours which is a little over three months. TheVerge in their coverage states it can “last for a whole week” of regular usage on a single charge.  The Energizer P28K is thicccc This is basically a 28,000mAh battery that has a phone inside 😂#MWC2024 pic.twitter.com/XTv0fZmzGV February

Arm's bigger brethren? Founder of Softbank seeks $100bn war chest to build AI chip behemoth to rival Nvidia, Intel — but is it too little, too late?

Web Hosting & Remote IT Support The founder of Softbank Group has reportedly set his sights on a new venture: a $100 billion AI chip company named Project Izanagi which could one day rival the dominance of AI leaders such as Nvidia, Intel and AMD. According to Bloomberg , Masayoshi Son says $30 billion of the required funding for Project Izanagi, which will focus on artificial general intelligence (AGI), is expected to come from Softbank, with the remaining $70 billion potentially sourced from Middle Eastern investors. However, the specifics of the funding and execution are still under wraps, and the project may undergo further evolution. Project Izanagi is envisioned to work in synergy with Arm, a chip design business in which Softbank holds a 90% stake. However, exactly how the two businesses will interact remains a mystery for now. An impossible dream? Despite facing various setbacks in his startup investments, Son's fervor for AGI is palpable. He was quoted by Bloombe

'Inspired by a car wash': Researchers unveil quasi-universal tag that's virtually unhackable thanks to glue — terahertz antitampering tag could help save billions of dollars in counterfeiting costs

Web Hosting & Remote IT Support Traditional radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags, commonly used for product authentication, have several limitations including size, cost, energy requirements, and security vulnerabilities. Researchers at MIT have developed a revolutionary cryptographic ID tag that overcomes these hurdles and could help combat the billion-dollar problem of supply chain counterfeiting. This minuscule, battery-free tag, dubbed the 'tag of everything,' can authenticate almost any product, making it a powerful tool against imitation parts and fraudulent goods. Inspired by a car wash The tag's innovative design was partly inspired by a car wash. Researchers noted how the car wash used a fragile RFID tag to authenticate membership, which would be destroyed if tampered with. They took this concept further, focusing on authenticating the item itself rather than the tag. The team achieved this by mixing microscopic metal particles into the glue that a

Tiny 'Hurricane-like' magnetic swirls could hold key to next AI breakthrough — material found in rust could help power energy efficient, brain-like processors capable of running at hundreds of Gigahertz

Web Hosting & Remote IT Support Researchers from Oxford University’s Department of Physics have made a discovery that could pave the way for the next big breakthrough in AI.  The team has successfully created 'hurricane-like' magnetic whirls in hematite, the main component of rust, which could potentially power energy-efficient, brain-like processors running at hundreds of Gigahertz. These magnetic whirls, capable of moving at astonishing speeds of up to kilometers per second, are being touted as potential information carriers for the next generation of green and super-fast computing platforms. 100-1000 times faster The study, published in Nature Materials , overcame the challenge of producing these whirls in materials that were previously incompatible with silicon, a major hurdle in their practical application. The research was led by Dr. Hariom Jani from Oxford University, in collaboration with the National University of Singapore and the Swiss Light Source. Dr. Ja

The Galaxy Book4 is open for pre-orders; here are 5 features I'm excited about

Web Hosting & Remote IT Support Samsung’s Galaxy Book4 series is available for pre-order and its product listing shows off features that either weren’t known until now or were only hinted at. We’ve briefly covered the laptop line in months prior. Back in December , some of the hardware specs for the Galaxy Book4 Ultra came out. They revealed the model would house a Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 graphics card and a 2TB SSD. That batch of info also included details on the Galaxy Book4 Pro stating the device can come with a 14-inch screen and your choice of either an Intel Core Ultra 5 or Core Ultra 7 processor. Then in January , the tech giant gave hints of the laptop becoming the center of a Galaxy device ecosystem. Everything we’ve learned so far just scratches the surface of what the Galaxy Book4 can do . Down below, we’ve highlighted the top five features that we think will make the line stand out from the crowd.  1. Samsung Galaxy Ecosystem (Image credit: Samsung) The S

I watched Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender and the gutsy but frustrating remake blows hot and cold

Web Hosting & Remote IT Support Avatar: The Last Airbender ( ATLA ) is widely regarded as one of the best animated shows ever made. Some simply consider it a highly enjoyable fantasy-style anime; others call it a masterpiece whose legacy extends beyond the confines of the animated TV space. When Netflix announced in 2018 that it was remaking the universally adored Nickelodeon series, eyebrows were raised. The streaming giant's recent attempts to adapt other beloved animated shows have yielded mixed results – 2021's Cowboy Bebop being critically and commercially panned, while One Piece garnered glowing reviews and dominated the TV charts following its August 2023 release. Viewers might expect Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender to similarly fall into one of these camps. In actuality, it sits equidistant between them. Netflix's ATLA is a largely pleasing homage to the original series and frequently entertaining but is undermined by superfluous alterations a

A lone developer just open sourced a tool that could bring an end to Nvidia's AI hegemony — AMD financed it for months but abruptly ended its support. Nobody knows why

Web Hosting & Remote IT Support Andrzej Janik, a developer working on a tool that allowed Nvidia's CUDA code to run on AMD and Intel GPUs without any modifications, has open sourced his creation after support for the project was dropped by both AMD and Intel. Although ZLUDA received a major update last week, bringing it to version 3, its future going forward is now in doubt. ZLUDA originally emerged in 2020 as a promising tool to enable Intel GPUs to run CUDA, the proprietary hardware-software ecosystem that underpins Nvidia's dominance. Janik lobbied for Intel to adopt it, but the company, who he worked for at the time, decided there was no business case for running CUDA applications on its GPUs and requested the project be taken down. AMD picks up the baton Janik subsequently left Intel and was contracted by AMD to continue ZLUDA development. However, AMD also concluded there was no business case for running CUDA applications on its GPUs and ended its support for t

WhatsApp launches overdue formatting features, bringing order to chaotic texts

Web Hosting & Remote IT Support WhatsApp is releasing several new formatting tools to help you manage those long walls of text in group chats. Triggering one of the new text formats requires you to enter a certain punctuation mark , followed by a space, and then the words themselves. Hyphens let you create a bullet list. A numeral with a period right after establishes a numbered list. Users can even make block quotes by first hitting the Greater Than arrow on the keyboard and then adding a space. To make inline code, you’ll have to press the accent symbol (which is found below the Esc key on most keyboards) followed by a single space. If done correctly, the messages you enter will be reformatted to your specifications. Otherwise, you’ll just see a bunch of random punctuations. In total, users now have eight different ways to spruce up their conversations on the platform counting the likes of bold, italic, strikethrough, and monospace from years prior. (Image credit: Fut