The initial results showcase the Mac Studio, equipped with the M2 Ultra chip, delivering impressive single-core and multi-core scores of approximately 2,800 and 21,700, respectively. This performance sets a new standard for Apple's desktop computing capabilities.

Moreover, the Geekbench scores reveal an extraordinary milestone for the upcoming Mac Pro models. The M2 Ultra-powered Mac Pro is expected to offer an overall CPU performance roughly twice as fast as the fastest Intel-based Mac Pro, featuring a 28-core Xeon W processor.

During the WWDC 2023 keynote, Apple announced that the new Mac Pro would be up to 3 times faster than the Intel-based model in select "real-world pro workflows like video transcoding and 3D simulation." The benchmark scores now validate this claim, solidifying Apple's commitment:

M2 Ultra consists of 134 billion transistors — 20 billion more than M1 Ultra. Its unified memory architecture supports up to a breakthrough 192GB of memory capacity, which is 50 percent more than M1 Ultra, and features 800GB/s of memory bandwidth — twice that of M2 Max.

M2 Ultra features a more powerful CPU that's 20 percent faster than M1 Ultra, a larger GPU that's up to 30 percent faster, and a Neural Engine that's up to 40 percent faster.

For consumers seeking unrivaled performance, the Mac Pro's six available PCIe expansion slots remain a compelling reason to opt for the desktop tower. On the other hand, for those who prioritize exceptional power at a more affordable price, the Mac Studio, configured with the M2 Ultra chip, offers an enticing alternative, saving $3,000 compared to the Mac Pro.

Source: Mac Rumors

M2 Ultra benchmark reveals 2x faster performance than fastest Intel-based Mac

That's certainly the case for one of Apple's first hardware launches, the Apple II. The personal computer started shipping on June 10, 1977, or 46 years ago today.

Yes, there was an Apple I "PC" that launched two years earlier in 1975. However, the PC, created by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, was really just a circuit board that was sold to tech enthusiasts for $666.66. Owners had to create their own cases and connect keyboards and monitors to it. Only about 200 of them were actually made, so if you manage to find one today, it's worth a lot of money.

In 1976, Wozniak and late Steve Jobs officially founded Apple Computer. The goal for this new company was to make a PC not for tech heads, but for anyone at home, in school, or at the office. That meant Apple had to create a case around its circuit board. Inside that board was a MOS Technology 6502 CPU running at 1.023 MHz. The PC had 4K of RAM, which could be expanded to as much as 48K.

Wozniak decided to put in the BASIC computer language directly into the PC's ROM. In an interview with Byte Magazine in 1984, Wozniak talked about how he created a version of the game Breakout in BASIC (a game he originally designed for Atari).

 It was the most satisfying day of my life [when] I demonstrated Breakout—totally written in BASIC. It seemed like a huge step to me. After designing hardware arcade games, I knew that being able to program them in BASIC was going to change the world.

Perhaps more important than what was on the inside of the Apple II, was what was on the outside. Apple 2 History notes that Jobs contacted a man named Jerry Manock, who Jobs had met during meetings of the local Homebrew Computer Club, and asked him to create a case. Manock came up with a plastic molded beige color prototype that was very close to what Jobs imagined it would be like. The Apple II's keyboard was made by a company called Datanetics which had earlier made a keyboard for the Apple I.

The Apple II's logo on top of the case was also the first use of the company's iconic apple logo which included multi-colors stripes. That design would remain the company's logo for two decades.

The Apple II was first shown off at the West Coast Computer Faire in April 1977. A few months before then, the Commodore PET PC had launched, which included a monitor on top of its case and had an introductory price of $795. The Tandy TRS-80 PC would launch a few months later in August 1977, again with an included monitor and a price of $599. When the Apple II PC shipped in June 1977, it did so without a monitor, with the idea that people would simply hook it up to their regular television. The PC did have the advantage of being able to support color graphics, which its competitors could not.

The Apple II started shipping with the PC and two game paddles. The starting price was much higher than the Commodore PET or the Tandy TRS-80 at $1,298. That's the equivalent of $6,497.78 in 2023. Apple also sold it with just the circuit board, like the Apple I was sold, for $798.

According to Ars Technica, the initial sales of the Apple II were on the slow side, with only 700 units sold during 1977. Sales picked up a bit when Apple introduced the PC's floppy drive accessory in 1978, which was far better and faster than the cassette tapes that were originally supported for extra storage.

The real reason why the Apple II finally became successful was not because of Jobs, Wozniak, or anyone else directly connected to its creation.

In 1979, the VisiCalc program was launched for the Apple II. It was the first PC spreadsheet program, and since it was only available at first for the Apple II, it quickly caused the PC to get a huge sales boost from businesses who wanted to use it.

By then, the company had moved on with the Apple II Plus, and would continue to release new models in the Apple II series for years to come. Apple was on its way to becoming one of the leaders of the PC revolution, even with the slow start of the original Apple I and II.

Perhaps Apple can learn some lessons from the launch of the Apple II with the upcoming Apple Vision Pro. The original Apple II was expensive, even more so than the Apple Vision Pro's price of $3,499 when inflation is considered. It took two years, and the launch of an app that everyone wanted, for the Apple II to finally succeed. It may be that instead of high-end hardware, there just needs to be a "killer app" for the Vision Pro to kickstart it into people's home.

Source

Saying ‘no’ to this kind of visual content is a question of research integrity, consent, privacy and intellectual-property protection.

Should Nature allow generative artificial intelligence (AI) to be used in the creation of images and videos? This journal has been discussing, debating and consulting on this question for several months following the explosion of content created using generative AI tools such as ChatGPT and Midjourney, and the rapid increase in these platforms’ capabilities.

Apart from in articles that are specifically about AI, Nature will not be publishing any content in which photography, videos or illustrations have been created wholly or partly using generative AI, at least for the foreseeable future.

Artists, filmmakers, illustrators and photographers whom we commission and work with will be asked to confirm that none of the work they submit has been generated or augmented using generative AI (see go.nature.com/3c5vrtm).

Why are we disallowing the use of generative AI in visual content? Ultimately, it is a question of integrity. The process of publishing — as far as both science and art are concerned — is underpinned by a shared commitment to integrity. That includes transparency. As researchers, editors and publishers, we all need to know the sources of data and images, so that these can be verified as accurate and true. Existing generative AI tools do not provide access to their sources so that such verification can happen.

Then there’s attribution: when existing work is used or cited, it must be attributed. This is a core principle of science and art, and generative AI tools do not conform to this expectation.

Consent and permission are also factors. These must be obtained if, for example, people are being identified or the intellectual property of artists and illustrators is involved. Again, common applications of generative AI fail these tests.

Generative AI systems are being trained on images for which no efforts have been made to identify the source. Copyright-protected works are routinely being used to train generative AI without appropriate permissions. In some cases, privacy is also being violated — for example, when generative AI systems create what look like photographs or videos of people without their consent. In addition to privacy concerns, the ease with which these ‘deepfakes’ can be created is accelerating the spread of false information.

Appropriate caveats

For now, Nature is allowing the inclusion of text that has been produced with the assistance of generative AI, providing this is done with appropriate caveats (see go.nature.com/3cbrjbb). The use of such large language model (LLM) tools needs to be documented in a paper’s methods or acknowledgements section, and we expect authors to provide sources for all data, including those generated with the assistance of AI. Furthermore, no LLM tool will be accepted as an author on a research paper.

The world is on the brink of an AI revolution. This revolution holds great promise, but AI — and particularly generative AI — is also rapidly upending long-established conventions in science, art, publishing and more. These conventions have, in some cases, taken centuries to develop, but the result is a system that protects integrity in science and protects content creators from exploitation. If we’re not careful in our handling of AI, all of these gains are at risk of unravelling.

Many national regulatory and legal systems are still formulating their responses to the rise of generative AI. Until they catch up, as a publisher of research and creative works, Nature’s stance will remain a simple ‘no’ to the inclusion of visual content created using generative AI.

Nature 618, 214 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-01546-4

Source

Rival AMD however, introduced AVX-512 much later, with Zen 4 or Ryzen 7000. And it looks like the move would be paying off for AMD soon. Popular synthetic CPU benchmarks like y-cruncher and Geekbench are expanding support for AVX-512 in their tests.

y-cruncher developer expresses disappointment in Intel's decision to remove the instructions as they feel there are several consequent drawbacks, adding that it is difficult to optimize for:

I've been asked a number of times about why I haven't done any optimizations for recent Intel processors. The latest Intel processor which y-cruncher has optimizations for is Tiger Lake which is 2 generations behind the latest (Raptor Lake). And because Raptor Lake lacks AVX512, it can only run a binary going all the way back to Skylake client (circa 2015).

[...]

Removing AVX512 is a huge step back in more ways than just the instruction width. It also removes all the other (non-width) functionality exclusive to AVX512 such as masking, all-to-all permutes, and increased register count. From a developer perspective, this very discouraging since most of the algorithms I've been working on since 2016 have been heavily influenced by (if not outright designed for) AVX512.

The lack of AVX512 is likely why Tiger Lake and Rocket Lake outperform Alder Lake in single-threaded benchmarks where memory bandwidth and core count are not a factor.

With its latest version 0.8.x, y-cruncher notes some significant performance boosts on Ryzen 7000 when computing Pi. It says AVX-512 can provide anywhere between 23-31% improvement compared to the previous version.

Meanwhile, Geekbench has now expanded support for AVX-512 with FP16 or float16 instructions. This means AMD Ryzen 7000 processors will in fact perform better than Intel 12th Gen and newer CPUs in certain Geekbench tests as well. Primate Labs, the makers of Geekbench says AVX512-FP16 will be included in "several image processing functions".

Aside from that, the new Geekbench 6.1 also addresses thermal throttling on Samsung Galaxy S23 and similar devices.

Edit: As reader DougQuaid pointed out, AMD's Zen 4 does not support AVX-512 - FP16. This has now been corrected. The following AVX-512 instructions are supported by Zen 4 according to y-cruncher's Alexander Yee:

• AVX512-F

• AVX512-CD

• AVX512-VL

• AVX512-BW

• AVX512-DQ

• AVX512-IFMA

• AVX512-VBMI

• AVX512-VNNI

• AVX512-BF16

• AVX512-VPOPCNTDQ

• AVX512-VBMI2

• AVX512-VPCLMULQDQ

• AVX512-BITALG

• AVX512-GFNI

• AVX512-VAES

   

AMD Ryzen to leave Intel 12th, 13th, 14th Gen in the dust in benchmarks due to AVX-512

Today, Reddit's CEO Steve Hoffman held an AMA on the site to address these issues, but he's standing firm on the price hike for those APIs. The AMA included a long opening statement, where Hoffman stated that these API changes were first revealed back in April. Hoffman stated:

Reddit needs to be a self-sustaining business, and to do that, we can no longer subsidize commercial entities that require large-scale data use.

Hoffman admitted "that the timeline we gave was tight" to those third-party developers but added, "we are happy to engage with folks who want to work with us." In a response to a Reddit user's suggestion that the API change could be delayed by 90 days, Hoffman stated:

We’re continuing to work with folks who want to work with us. For what it’s worth, this includes many of the apps that haven’t been taking the spotlight this week.

The developer of the Reddit app Apollo, Christian Selig, claimed earlier this week that Hoffman stated falsely that Selig "threatened" Reddit and attempted to blackmail the company. When asked about this accusation by a Reddit user in the AMA Hoffman didn't directly talk about that claim, but did state this:

His “joke” is the least of our issues. His behavior and communications with us has been all over the place—saying one thing to us while saying something completely different externally; recording and leaking a private phone call—to the point where I don’t know how we could do business with him.

In a reply to this statement, Apollo maker Selig commented in the AMA, "Please feel free to give examples where I said something differently in public versus what I said to you. I give you full permission."

Hoffman also repeated Reddit's recent decision to continue to allow non-commercial Reddit apps made primarily for accessibility to access its APIs for free.

Thousands of popular subreddits are planning to protest the company's API price hikes by going "dark" for at least 48 hours starting on Monday, June 12.

Reddit CEO is standing firm on its upcoming and controversial API rate hikes

One man’s nearly 40-year, 8-bit quest to finish his teenage Commodore 64 RPG

As revealed today on the official Bing blog, Microsoft has now added voice chat to people who use Bing chat on the desktop. The feature was already available for mobile users. Desktop users with a working microphone can start speaking into Bing chat by clicking the microphone icon. Microsoft states:

We currently support English, Japanese, French, German, and Mandarin, with more languages on the way. Try asking Bing Chat, “How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?” Bing Chat also supports text to speech answers—it will respond to your questions in its own voice. Using voice input, ask Bing Chat, “What’s the toughest tongue twister you know?”

Officially, that's the only new thing that was mentioned as being added this week to Bing Chat in the latest blog post. However, we did confirm several days ago that Microsoft has begun experimenting with adding Bing Chat support for third party PC browsers such as Google's Chrome and Apple's Safari. This support is only being rolled out to a few users at the moment. However, if you use the Vivaldi web browser, you can now access Bing Chat with the newly released 6.1 update.

Microsoft also started a new social network marketing campaign this week to help promote better use of Bing Chat to search for answers or to just create a funny story. Unfortunately, it was discovered that Microsoft was using Bing Chat in Edge to create a false AI answer when someone searched for the term "Chrome". Instead, it generated what was basically an ad to use Bing. Microsoft later said it had removed this "feature" from Bing Chat.

Bing Chat now adds voice chat for desktop users in this week's dev update

Recently, we saw more and more social media platforms adopt AI technologies. In February, Snapchat revealed its Open-AI developed GPT chatbot ‘My AI’ and Google introduced Bard, as a rival to ChatGPT. Bard is also now accessible without a waitlist and comes with improved capabilities.

Furthermore, there was news that an AI chatbot with 30 personalities is coming to Instagram, and we even saw Microsoft introduce ‘Co-pilot’ that it added to platforms like Microsoft (Office) 365, Bing, and Edge.

A report by Bloomberg suggests that ByteDance Ltd. is currently working on an AI chatbot code-named “Grace” by the TikTok owner. According to the company spokesperson, employees who use the chatbot would see a popup message stating that the chatbot is based on several large language models.

Both the spokesperson and the employee who tested the service have asked to remain anonymous as this is an internal project the company is working on. The news of such an AI assistant development seems to be the first official indication that ByteDance wishes to incorporate AI technology into its platform.

The news of ByteDance developing its own large language models did hit the Chinese press, however, the company did not confirm it.

That being said, there have been reports of TikTok also developing another chatbot called Tako. Although, Tako is currently a meer instant messenger in TikTok where users can ask questions and get prompt answers.

Since AI technologies like ChatGPT are unavailable in China, it seems that the Chinese conglomerates are now increasingly investing in the field, especially after the potential ChatGPT showed since its launch in November.

In March, the Chinese tech multinational Baidu revealed its AI chatbot called Ernie Bot. Although not perfect, Ernie Bot is among the first Chinese rivals to ChatGPT and GPT-4, both of which, are developed by the US-based Open AI.

This was followed by Alibaba, where in February, the company revealed its Tongyi Qianwen AI chatbot designed specifically for businesses and corporations.

Source: Bloomberg (Paywall)

TikTok owner reportedly working on a ChatGPT rival chatbot "Grace" as it joins the AI race

Nvidia’s new monster CPU+GPU chip may power the next gen of AI chatbots

The Season 3 battle pass is not the only thing on the chopping block with this update, though, as it appears that Warzone 2.0 is undergoing a rebrand. The title font has been changed, and “2.0” has officially been dropped from the branding. That's not all players can look forward to, though. Here's what we know so far about Call of Duty's Season 4 content.

Call of Duty: Warzone and MW 2 — Season 4 release date

(Image credit: Activision)

The season 4 update will go live on June 14 at 9AM PT across all platforms.

While full patch notes will be forthcoming from Infinity Ward and Raven Software prior to the release of Season 4, we do know that the following studios provided support for the changes: Activision Central Design, Activision Localization Dublin, Activision QA, Activision Shanghai, Beenox, Demonware, High Moon Studios, Raven Software, Sledgehammer Games, Team Ricochet, Toys for Bob, and Treyarch. Season 4 was certainly an all-hands-on-deck effort.

The publisher for Call of Duty, is currently undergoing scrutiny as Microsoft attempts to purchase Activision Blizzard King (and all of those aforementioned studios, plus others) for Xbox. The merger was blocked by the UK's CMA and faces lawsuits from the FTC in the US despite being approved by a multitude of other countries.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Multiplayer— Season 4 Maps

Modern Warfare 2 is getting an impressive drop of 6 new maps for their content starved multiplayer fans. A seventh map will be released during the midseason update later on, but for now players can look forward to Showdown, Kunstenaar District, Mercado, Penthouse, Mawizeh Marsh, and Ahkdar Village. 

Showdown

(Image credit: Activision)

Old school Call of Duty fans might recognize this map from its heyday during Call of Duty: 4 Modern Warfare or from its current placement as part of the landscape of Al Mazrah in Warzone. Little has changed from how players will remember Showdown except for the addition of some mounting points, so old pros will feel right at home. Showdown will be a core map, so look for it on your standard 6v6 playlists.

Kunstenaar District 

(Image credit: Activision)

Kunstenaar District —pronounced “khun-steh-nawr” and translated to Arts District—is a new location from Vondel, the upcoming Warzone map that we’ll cover more later. Kunstenaar District features a row of townhouses, boutiques, a plaza in the center, and a swimmable canal on the left flank.  

Kunstenaar District embraces the classic Call of Duty three lane map design with streets lined with art and graffiti. Shadow company trucks litter the roadways and you never know when an enemy player has hopped in one, so watch your step unless you want to become a military grade pancake. Or take one for yourself to get a more strategic position. 

Mercado

(Image credit: Activision)

This subsection of Las Almas has been cleared out for Gunfight and Face Off. This large, covered structure offers multiple levels but you are only allowed to go at it with small squads of duos or trios. 

Penthouse

(Image credit: Activision)

Like Mercado, Penthouse is only coming to Gunfight and Face Off, so this small map is aimed for small squads and features a penthouse situated in the heart of Chicago with a lap pool, outdoor firepit, and a tight angled interior for extreme close quarters scenarios. The Chicago skyline may be magnificent, but don’t get caught unaware lest the enemy get a finishing move in on you. 

Mawizeh Marshlands 

(Image credit: Activision)

Time for the big boy battlegrounds. Mawizeh Marshlands is a familiar point of interest from Al Mazrah and features the dilapidated remains of the River Diamond Luxury Resort. Suitable for foot traffic and vehicles alike, Mawizeh Marshlands provides plenty of gameplay variety with its murky waters, flooded swimming pool, and littering of construction equipment. The Marshlands will be limited to big team game modes.

Ahkdar Village

(Image credit: Activision)

Similar to Mawizeh Marshlands the Al Mazrah point of interest Ahkdar Village is being sectioned out for big team game modes. From the railroad to the south to the stepped farms and mountain base to the north, players will recognize that this is the fortified village where Showdown is located. 

Vehicles are frequent on the village’s streets, so foot traffic is better suited to rooftops—and don’t forget your RPG. Look for Ahkdar Village and Mawizeh Marshlands both on Ground War and Invasion.

Vondel Waterfront

(Image credit: Activision)

Vondel Waterfront is the 7th map to make its way to Modern Warfare 2’s multiplayer this season, though its arrival to the playlist rotation will not be until mid-season. More info about this map will be revealed later as its launch becomes imminent.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Multiplayer — Season 4 modes

Fans of bigger teams on core maps making the experience feel smaller and more engaging have been enjoying a 10v10 mosh pit playlist. However, 10v10 Mosh pit did leave the Search & Destroy and Prisoner Rescue community out in the cold.

 Those looking to increase the intensity of one-life game modes will be able to appreciate the risk in new 12v12 playlists for Search & Destroy and Prison Rescue, but they’ll want to mind their manners on the mic when the inevitable 1v7 moment hits.  6v6 mode will remain a part of standard Quick Play playlists, but 12v12 editions will be making their featured debut in Season 4.

Call of Duty: Warzone — Season 4 map reveal

(Image credit: Activision)

Vondel

Warzone Resurgence is getting its much anticipated and poorly kept secret of a new map, Vondel. Located somewhere between Al Mazrah and Ashika Island, up to 72 players can dive in for Resurgence game modes or 18 operators for DMZ missions.  Vondel features a mix of urban streets and canals along with a few larger structures that can be accessed on the inside handout. Verticality is the name of the game here with parkour routes and plenty of secrets giving players a reason to really explore what the new region has to offer.  

Players can expect their travels across Vondel to have them exploring 15 different Points of Interest including a medieval Castle, abandoned Zoo, a Greek Revival-styled City Hall, and a soccer Stadium currently set up for a paintball tournament. There are also plenty of alleyway cafes, tightly packed townhouses, and winding canals to provide strategic vantage points.

(Image credit: Activision)

Vondel’s canals will provide the perfect opportunity to test out the new Tactical Amphibious Vehicle (TAV). This slow but versatile four-person vehicle offers jack-of-all-trades versatility at the expense of speed, but it can change the way you navigate the waterways and streets of the newest island from Beenox. 

Beenox was previously responsible for the incredibly popular Rebirth Island map from Warzone Classic, so the pressure is on for them to deliver with Vondel. The new map is not limited just to Resurgence and DMZ, however. Traditional Battle Royale will be making its way to Vondel with the mid-season Reloaded content, including a brand-new subterranean Gulag and an Occupation Scan centric public event with some additional [REDACTED] quests that we’ll have to wait for extra intel on.

More information about Vondel will be revealed during the Summer Games Fest on June 8. 

Resurgence gets an update

Resurgence mode has been fairly cut and dry since its inception into Warzone way back when Rebirth Island launched, but the mode will receive some interesting updates that can shake up gameplay just a bit with Season 4. Two new features being introduced to Resurgence are Dynamic Resurgence Timers and the Vengeance icon.

Dynamic Resurgence Timers will change the pace of gameplay for squads who lose a player due to disconnects (and rage quits) to shorten the time it takes for a squad mate to redeploy depending on how many squad members are connected to the game. Should your disconnected squad mate be lucky enough to rejoin the match the timer will adjust accordingly and return to normal. 

(Image credit: Activision)

The Vengeance Icon is almost exactly what you would think upon hearing that title. A nifty little red and black skull icon will now appear in the direction of the enemy combatant responsible for your most recently untimely demise. There are some limitations to this particular feature, most notably that the icon will only remain visible for the duration of your squad mate’s resurgence timer. 

Should you crew take out the perpetrator during your time out from the battlefield you’ll all be rewarded with 5 seconds getting knocked off the clock for all squad mates currently waiting to redeploy. 

The addition of the vengeance icon is meant to assist squads who may not be using communicative devices, allowing squads to have additional situational awareness without requiring a microphone.  

While the icon can help you track down someone who knocked a member of your squad, it can be risky to go after them as you will not have any other details like how many of their squad mates are in the area nor their exact location, and it will be entirely up to your skillset as a squad to actually enact revenge. 

Call of Duty: Warzone — Limited time mode

(Image credit: Activision)

Vondel isn’t just changing the geographical landscape of Warzone, it's changing the playlists that are available, as well.  The map will launch under Lockdown—a quad team objective based mode inspired by Multiplayer’s Hardpoint which will task squads with holding down zones instead of just being the last ones standing. 

Players will drop in with their custom loadouts right at the start and matches will last around twice as long as a standard Hardpoint multiplayer match. Expect to get in about 4 matches in an hour-long marathon session, with a potty break thrown in if you’re quick.

Call of Duty: Warzone — Assault on Vondel Launch Event

A deep-cover agent and a band of heavily cloaked mercenaries are descending on Vondel, and you’ll be tasked with fighting back during the Assault on Vondel launch event.  Beginning on June 14 and lasting until July 7th you and your squad will need to complete challenges for medals which can be used to unlock personal rewards while also contributing toward a community-wide medal count.  Predetermined medal goals will unlock community-wide rewards such as Taxi Boats & Tramways, a Reinforcement Flare Field Upgrade, and the new Tonfa melee weapon which will be unlocked. 

Personal Supply Boxes are making their return as part of the Assault on Vondel event, but they’ve been rebranded as Favorite Supply Box and will feature different contents based on each Operator’s personal loadouts.  The box is expected to pull the primary and secondary weapons from whichever loadout you have branded as your favorite, along with ammo and an armor plate to help you stick around for a little longer. 

While your first custom loadout is deemed your favorite by default, you can choose another custom to set as your favorite by hovering over it in the menu and selecting “Set as Favorite”. This will allow that loadout’s equipment to show up in your Favorite Supply Box when opened.  These boxes are rare, so open them quickly to get your preferred gear before the enemy gets theirs.

(Image credit: Activision)

Reinforcement Flares are a field upgrade that will be available at Buy Stations in Battle Royale, and offer a high-risk, higher-reward mechanism for changing the tide of a battle. Once purchased at a Buy Station, the Reinforcement Flare can be deployed to signal the return of a random squad mate. Think of it as having a buy station redeployment in your pocket, only you do not get to choose which teammate is revived. A signal flare will launch into the sky upon deployment, however, so stay vigilant as your squad becomes a target for predatory teams looking to take out a team at a disadvantage.

Following Stage 1 of the Assault on Vondel event, should players collect enough tokens to earn it, the map will be updated with a new Taxicab system. These Taxicabs are an autonomous boat that will make its way around the canals of Vondel with set routes, similar to Al Mazrah’s ever-looping train. Players will be able to speed up the boats, however, should they need to flee the scene in a hurry.

In Al Mazrah, the sandstorm that has been decimating the map has finally subsided and there is notable damage to the downtown area. Players will find that Al Mazrah City is now the home of several big sand banks, affecting the way players can approach and engage with combatants atop high-rise buildings such as the TV Tower, Embassy, and Highrise.  Small structures downtown have been flooded, and there are dunes of sand obstructing roadways including the highway.

Call of Duty: Warzone — DMZ

(Image credit: Activision)

Call of Duty’s DMZ has undergone some big changes the last 3 seasons which have left the mode feeling clunky and laborious to navigate. Thankfully we’re seeing the menu system for DMZ get some much-needed adjustments with Season 4 as a centralized hub focused on all communications and operator upgrades is being released. The Forward Operating Base (FOB) will allow players to see their objectives and upgrade progress across all of what DMZ has to offer.  The FOB changes are further broken down into four different categories:

• Stash: Wallet & Keystash with increased size
• Weapons Locker: Insured and contraband armaments and upgrdaes
• Bounty Board: Exfil, Bartering recipes, and buy station discounts
• Communications Station: Urgent mission access

The FOB will unlock Urgent Missions for players, an all-new type of Faction-requested task. These are typically quick to complete and are a good way to earn reputation and unlock additional story missions.  These can all be tracked within the FOB itself and will allow you to unlock additional insured slots, give you access to your out-of-game wallet, as well as access to expanding DMZ elements like your stashes and wallet capacity. The wallet will now allow you to keep cash you extract from DMZ, and you will have the option to redeploy with a pocketful of cash to make some operator missions easier to complete.

(Image credit: Activision)

While most of DMZ’s upcoming changes are [REDACTED] until Season 4 Reloaded, there will be new missions and an entirely new Phalanx faction as well as Signal Intelligence Contract.  More information about these changes will be revealed on June 9 during the special Infinity Ward DMZ Community Update.  What can be revealed now, however, is the DMZ’s new dynamic fog system. Vondel’s built upon a series of canals below sea level and it's only natural that the area would be heavily subjected to fog during inclement weather conditions.  

Dynamic Fog is a new technology for Call of Duty and will help players feel more ingrained in the world while also providing some unique gameplay challenges. While the weather on Vondel is typically sunny with few clouds there’s always the potential for fog to roll in, especially during Resurgence and Battle Royale modes.

DMZ Raid Finale

The final episode of the epic Raid storyline will be coming to a close with Season 4 Reloaded. While most of the information for the Raid finale is still redacted until closer to mid-season, we do know that those who complete the raid will be rewarded with an exclusive operator skin for Farah.

Call of Duty: Warzone & MW2 — New Operators

As with each new Battle Pass there is an onslaught of new Operators and bundles to collect. Season 4 is no different and we’ll see five new Operators make their way to the warzone this time around. 

Nikto

(Image credit: Activision)

Nikto is a former FSB deep-cover agent who made his first appearance in Call of Duty in 2019’s Modern Warfare reboot.  With a black mask covering his disfigured face, Nitko is a secretive leader with nothing to fear and an impressive set of skills to back it all up.  

He has been AWOL since October 2022 when he was working with the CIA to hunt Victor Zakhaev in Verdansk, but he will make his appearance again as part of the Season 4 battle pass as he leads a new special forces group in an attempt to take over Vondel. 

Io

(Image credit: Activision)

Io will be launching exclusively to members who have purchased the Blackcell upgrade for their Battle pass. Any further information is yet to be released. 

Ana Vega

(Image credit: Activision)

As a Gold Star child who lost her parents following the early days of the Urzikstan conflict, Ana Vega has chosen to follow in their footsteps in order to reconnect. She’s graduated from the United States Military Academy with top honors and has subsequently enlisted in the Army’s Combat Medic Specialist Training Program.  

She’s effectively skilled as both a combatant and a medic, which lead to her fast-tracking to a position with Special Forces unit with the 75th Ranger Regiment.  She’s one of the first female Ranger combat medics and was later tapped for Task Force Pineapple— a volunteer unit tasked with getting US assets out of Central-West Asia where she was awarded a Combat Medical Badge for saving her allies following an RPG attack.  

Players will be able to unlock Ana Vega in an Operator Bundle at the launch of Season 4.

 Izanami, “Izzy” 

(Image credit: Activision)

Intel for Izzy has been redacted until a later date.  They are expected to release as part of an in-season Operator Bundle.

Butch

(Image credit: Activision)

Like Io and Izzy, Butch has been redacted until details on an in-season Operator Bundle is released. However, Butch’s appearance has also been redacted.

Call of Duty: Warzone and MW2 — New weapons

A new assault rifle and SMG will be joining players’ armories while a potential melee weapon could be rewarded for community event participation. A secretive shotgun will be revealed later on for the midseason event.

Tempus Razorback

(Image credit: Activision)

This bullpup assault rifle with frame vibration control is smooth with minimal recoil and will be available at launch as a battle pass unlock in sector D13. 

ISO 45

(Image credit: Activision)

Also available at launch but in battle pass sector D19 is the ISO 45, an old school SMG previously seen in Modern Warfare (2019). Lightweight and mobile, the ISO 45 is excellent for short and midrange engagements while the higher caliber rounds make it a heavy hitter compared to its counterparts. 

Tonfa

(Image credit: Activision)

We briefly touched on the Tonfa earlier in this article, but this is a potential reward unlock for the Assault on Vondel event. This hard-polymer edgeless melee weapon delivers swift and brutal blunt force trauma to your fellow Operators on the battlefield. 

The Tonfa hails from warriors of the Japanese Ryukyu islands who utilized armor and staffs along with the wooden baton styled Tonfa to bluntly take out an enemy. While traditionally Tonfas are defensive weapons, Call of Duty doesn’t offer a way to block, so we’re just going to use these nifty little things to bludgeon each other with some delightfully brutal finishing moves. 

[REDACTED] shotgun

The team’s gone out of their way this Seasonal update to tell us all about what’s coming while still maintaining an awful lot of redacted information. Just like with the secretive Operators, more info about this shotgun will be revealed during Season 4 Reloaded.

Call of Duty Season 4 Ranked Play

(Image credit: Activision)

With a new season of content comes a new season of Ranked Play and this one marks the first full season of Warzone's rankings. New rewards await players of Multiplayer and Warzone alike.

Multiplayer Ranked Play rewards

• 5 Wins: ‘Season 04 Competitor’ Weapon Sticker
• 10 Wins: Pro Re-Issue Vaznev-9k Weapon Blueprint
• 25 Wins: ‘Please Rotate’ Weapon Charm
• 50 Wins: ‘Lock it Down’ Large Weapon Decal
• 75 Wins: ‘MWII Ranked Play Season 04’ Loading Screen
• 100 Wins: ‘MWII Season 04 Ranked Veteran’ Weapon Camo

Battle Royale Ranked Play rewards

Placement challenges

• Finish ‘Top 15’ 25 Times: ‘Cash Out’ Large Decal
• Finish ‘Top 5’ 25 Times: Pro Issue Lachman Sub Blueprint
• Finish 1st Place: ‘Team Wipe’ Weapon Charm

Kill and assist challenges

• Get 25 Kills or Assists: ‘WZ Season 04 Competitor’ Sticker
• Get 250 Kills or Assists: ‘WZ Ranked Play Season 04’ Loading Screen
• Get 1000 Kills or Assists: ‘WZ Season 04 Ranked Veteran’ Camo

As always, players can expect to earn additional rewards based on their division placement during the season, and your starting Division for Season 4 will be based on how you finish in Season 3. The #1 player in Season 4 will receive a one of a kind calling card and emblem but their bragging rights will be cut short come Season 5 unless they can retain their title. 

Everything coming to Call of Duty: Warzone and Modern Warfare 2 in Season 4

That includes its Bing Chat chatbot AI, and its Copilot features that are coming to both Microsoft 365 and Windows 11, among other products.

However, there is a growing amount of uncertainty and even fear about how the rise of AI services in businesses could affect jobs and even through the creation of "deep fakes" for content. Today, Microsoft announced that it has developed some commitments for AI for its third party customers that it claims will make using these services better for businesses and enterprise users.

The blog post states these new commitments will come in three parts. The first part is sharing Microsoft's research into creating responsible AI systems:

We are committed to sharing this knowledge and expertise with you by publishing the key documents we developed during this process so that you can learn from our experiences. These include our Responsible AI Standard, AI Impact Assessment Template, AI Impact Assessment Guide, Transparency Notes, and detailed primers on the implementation of our responsible AI by design approach.

The second AI commitment is making sure businesses that run AI systems on Microsoft's platforms match government rules for running AI responsibility. That will include help with talking with government regulators and more.

The third AI commitment from Microsoft says the company will help develop responsible AI programs for its many third-party partners:

We will create a dedicated team of AI legal and regulatory experts in regions around the world as a resource for you to support your implementation of responsible AI governance systems in your businesses.

Microsoft is definitely one of the biggest researchers and leaders in creating AI products. These new commitments to its many partner companies to help them create responsible AI rules and products may go a long way in keeping down fears about what AI might bring in the future.

Source

But there is a real danger of discrimination if the technology is not developed and used properly, the Information Commissioner's Office says.

Tech Futures: Neurotechnology is the first ICO report on "neurodata", data from the brain and nervous system.

It comes as companies such as Elon Musk's Neuralink explore new ways to let computers connect to human brains.

Cycling accident

"Based on all the indicators that we're looking at, we're seeing quite rapid growth, both in investments and in patents being developed in this area," the ICO's Stephen Almond told BBC News.

Neurotech is already used in the healthcare sector, where there are strict regulations, the ICO says.

Electronic implants in the brain of Gert-Jan Oskam, paralysed in a cycling accident 12 years ago, enabled him to walk again.

And commercial interest in the technology is growing.

Neuralink has won permission for human trials of its implantable brain-computer interface and is reportedly now worth $5bn (£4bn) though a long way from a commercial product.

Workplace stress

Artificial Intelligence is also opening up new possibilities, with research projects now able to decipher sentences and words just from brain scans. This might eventually help patients with locked-in syndrome, who are conscious but cannot move or speak.

But the report focuses on technologies that might emerge in the future, which it uses as hypothetical examples to explore the issues raised by neurodata.

In four to five years, the ICO suggests, "as employee tracking expands, the workplace may routinely deploy neurotechnology for safety, productivity and recruitment".

Helmets or safety equipment might measure the attention and focus of an employee in high risk environments.

And bosses might use it to assess how individuals reacted to workplace stress, Mr Almond said.

In the longer term in education wearable brain monitoring devices might be used to measure students' concentration levels and stress levels.

"Neuromarketing" is already in limited use in small, controlled research settings - with consumers' responses to products assessed using medical devices that measure brain activity - although, there is significant debate about its merits

In the future, "non-invasive devices capable of reading responses may be used at home to tailor consumer preferences", the ICO says.

In one admittedly far-fetched example the report imagines in the future neurotechnology-enabled headphones might gather data used to target advertising.

It also sees growth in gaming and entertainment - some games and drones are already controlled by devices that take readings of the brain.

But the ICO is worried the technology could cause discrimination, unless developed carefully.

Tricky questions

The technology itself could be biased, giving incorrect answers when analysing certain groups, Mr Almond said.

But there was also the risk bosses could use it to discriminate against "certain types of more neurodivergent characteristics".

It might reveal conditions of which the subject themselves was unaware.

And it raised tricky questions around consent. Neurodata is subconsciously generated, the report says, and people have no direct control over the specific information which is disclosed.

"If you don't know what the technology is going to reveal about you, can you really consent in advance to the processing of that personal data about you?" Mr Almond said. "Because once it's released into the open, you then have relatively lower control over it."

The ICO hopes to complete new neurodata guidance by 2025.

Source

The AI assistant can write content in different tones such as informal, optimistic, formal, humorous, skeptical, and others. It can integrate with WordPress and all Jetpack-powered websites. Users can add the Jetpack AI assistant to their WordPress editor as a block using the “/ai” block shortcut. In addition to writing content, the assistant can also analyze existing text to identify potential errors in spelling and grammar.

Automattic says that Jetpack AI Assistant can also translate content into 12 languages like Chinese, French, and Hindi. For instance, users can write in their native language and translate it into English. The tool can suggest titles and summaries for blog posts and offers a conversation mode where it can double up as a chatbot.

For now, Jetpack AI Assistant is an experimental feature that comes with 20 free requests after which users need to pay a $10 monthly fee. It is available for free on all WordPress.com sites for a limited time. The premium plan doesn't come with an upper limit for the number of requests. However, Automattic said it "may consider introducing an upper limit on the number of requests in the future" depending on how it grows.

Jetpack AI Assistant joins the likes of Grammarly, Notion AI, and other writing assistants. Recently, Google also introduced a new tool called Help Me Write. It uses generative AI to draft entire emails instead of just short responses suggested by its predecessor Smart Reply. LinkedIn also offers AI tools that can help users update their profile bio and draft pitches for hiring managers.

WordPress gets an AI assistant that can write blog posts, correct grammar, translate content

Before

After

Here is how the new Mac Pro compares to its predecessor and the Mac Studio, which many believed had replaced Apple's most expensive desktop computer.

• Apple Silicon M2 Ultra replaces Intel's Xeon W chips.
• RAM and GPU changes: you can no longer replace GPU and RAM as these components are now integrated into the SoC. Also, the max amount of RAM is limited to only 192GB.
• Storage improvements: the base config now has a 1TB user-removable solid-state drive.
• Improved connectivity: the new Mac Pro features Wi-Fi 6E support and Bluetooth 5.2.
• Improved ports and expansion slots: with the 2023 Mac Pro, you get eight Thunderbolt 4 ports, two HDMI, and 7 PCIe 4.0 slots (one pre-occupied with the Apple I/O ports card).
• Cheaper: Although the base price is the same, the maxed-out Mac Pro now costs almost five times less than its predecessor.

2023 Mac Pro vs. 2019 Mac Pro vs. Mac Studio

Here is the detailed spec-by-spec comparison:

The 2023 Mac Pro is now available for preorder on the Apple Store. The company plans to deliver the first orders on June 13, 2023, alongside the new 15-inch MacBook Air and M2 Ultra-powered Mac Studio.

Apple's newest tower computer is an interesting device targeting a niche audience. Most Apple devices use the "Pro" moniker to indicate a more expensive variant (there is nothing professional in the iPhone 14 Pro or AirPods Pro). However, with the Mac Pro, it makes sense—the only reason to give Apple $3,000 extra are those PCIe expansion slots. And they cannot be used for discrete graphics cards, so you must have a very specific set of peripherals to justify such an expensive purchase. If not, the Mac Studio with the M2 Ultra CPU seems more reasonable and affordable.

Specs Appeal: Here is how the new Mac Pro compares to its predessor and Mac Studio

The small but useful new feature will now allow people who use Bard to make tables to quickly export them to Google's Sheets spreadsheets. Google stated:

So when Bard generates a table in its response — like if you ask it to “create a table for volunteer sign-ups for my animal shelter” — you can now export it right to Sheets.

The other new feature will enable Bard to present more accurate results with requests about math and word problems, along with better coding answers. Google says that it is using what is called "implicit code execution” that will detect when a question is related to math. Bard will then figure out the answer in the background.

Google stated that this new method goes beyond the typical large language models (LLMs) that are used in other chatbot AI programs like ChatGPT and Bing Chat. Google says Bard now calculates math and similar questions in both LLMs and with traditional code. It added:

Through implicit code execution, Bard identifies prompts that might benefit from logical code, writes it “under the hood,” executes it and uses the result to generate a more accurate response. So far, we've seen this method improve the accuracy of Bard’s responses to computation-based word and math problems in our internal challenge datasets by approximately 30%.

Google does give the obvious statement that even with this new method, mistakes in math answers and coding might still happen with Bard, but it does say that it hopes using implicit code execution will make improvements in a lot of these areas.

The Google Bard chatbot is getting better at math and also can import tables to Sheets

All the features Apple didn’t mention in its WWDC 2023 keynote

What are the greatest future challenges for humanity? This was the first question that Cosimo Della Santina, assistant professor, and Ph.D. student Francesco Stella, both from TU Delft, and Josie Hughes from EPFL, asked ChatGPT.

"We wanted ChatGPT to design not just a robot, but one that is actually useful," says Della Santina. In the end, they chose food supply as their challenge, and as they chatted with ChatGPT, they came up with the idea of creating a tomato-harvesting robot.

Helpful suggestions

The researchers followed all of ChatGPT's design decisions. The input proved particularly valuable in the conceptual phase, according to Stella. "ChatGPT extends the designer's knowledge to other areas of expertise. For example, the chat robot taught us which crop would be most economically valuable to automate."

But ChatGPT also came up with useful suggestions during the implementation phase: "Make the gripper out of silicone or rubber to avoid crushing tomatoes" and "a Dynamixel motor is the best way to drive the robot". The result of this partnership between humans and AI is a robotic arm that can harvest tomatoes.

A tomato picker robot designed by ChatGPT and researchers from TU Delft and EPFL in a field test together with a researcher.

Credit: Adrien Buttier / EPFL

ChatGPT as a researcher

The researchers found the collaborative design process to be positive and enriching. "However, we did find that our role as engineers shifted towards performing more technical tasks," says Stella. In Nature Machine Intelligence, the researchers explore the varying degrees of cooperation between humans and Large Language Models (LLM), of which ChatGPT is one.

In the most extreme scenario, AI provides all the input to the robot design, and the human blindly follows it. In this case, the LLM acts as the researcher and engineer, while the human acts as the manager, in charge of specifying the design objectives.

A robot tomato picker arm designed by ChatGPT and researchers from TU Delft and EPFL "looks' at the camera. Credit: Adrien Buttier / EPFL

Risk of misinformation

Such an extreme scenario is not yet possible with today's LLMs. And the question is whether it is desirable. "In fact, LLM output can be misleading if it is not verified or validated. AI bots are designed to generate the 'most probable' answer to a question, so there is a risk of misinformation and bias in the robotic field," Della Santina says. Working with LLMs also raises other important issues, such as plagiarism, traceability and intellectual property.

Della Santina, Stella and Hughes will continue to use the tomato-harvesting robot in their research on robotics. They are also continuing their study of LLMs to design new robots. Specifically, they are looking at the autonomy of AIs in designing their own bodies. "Ultimately an open question for the future of our field is how LLMs can be used to assist robot developers without limiting the creativity and innovation needed for robotics to rise to the challenges of the 21st century," Stella concludes.

More information: Francesco Stella et al, How can LLMs transform the robotic design process?, Nature Machine Intelligence (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s42256-023-00669-7. www.nature.com/articles/s42256-023-00669-7

Journal information: Nature Machine Intelligence

Source

• The Royal Navy has successfully conducted the inaugural trial of a quantum navigation system capable of determining a vessel’s precise location worldwide, without reliance on GPS.
• The technology was developed by physicists from Imperial College in London.
• Quantum navigation represents a technological leap over satellite-based systems, because satellites can be jammed and often malfunction

The Royal Navy is considered history’s greatest global navigators and early adopters of navigational technology. Now, Sky News is reporting that the Royal Navy is taking that historic legacy into the quantum era.

The television news network says that the Royal Navy has successfully conducted the inaugural trial of a quantum navigation system capable of determining a vessel’s precise location worldwide, without reliance on GPS. Developed by physicists from Imperial College in London, the technology utilizes the unique properties of atoms to achieve more precise measurements of an object’s movement compared to conventional methods.

With this quantum navigation system onboard, a ship could navigate with greater accuracy than traditional chart and compass methods, eliminating the need for satellite-based navigation that is currently widely employed.

Colonel Tom Ryan, the head of Navy X, the Royal Navy’s research division, highlighted the significance of this development, stating that it offers a new and innovative approach to accurately plot a vessel’s position, a fundamental requirement for the Navy and military operations.

It represents a potentially long technological leap from current satellite navigation.

“Sometimes that can be interfered with or sometimes it doesn’t work,” Colonel Tom Ryan, head of Navy X, the Royal Navy’s research division, told Sky News. “So the ability to have a new and novel way of accurately, very accurately, plotting your position is fundamental to the way the Royal Navy and the military does business.”

Although specific details about the applications of this technology remain undisclosed by the Royal Navy, certain hints suggest potential uses. For instance, submarines cannot rely on GPS while submerged. Quantum navigation, however, could theoretically work while the craft is submerged.

The XV Patrick Blackett, the Navy’s new experimental vessel, provided the setting for the experiment. Sky News said the ship makes a perfect host for the futuristic experiment — it boasts a sleek design, featuring tinted windows and a glossy black hull.

The successful trial of the quantum navigation system marks a significant step forward in naval technology, with potential implications for enhancing navigation capabilities and operational effectiveness in various maritime scenarios.

Source

The Wall Street Journal stated the layoffs were revealed to Reddit's employees via a company-wide email from its CEO Steve Huffman. He stated that while Reddit had "had a solid first half of the year", the job cuts, "will position us to carry that momentum into the second half and beyond." He added that the company would also reduce its planned hiring for the rest of 2023 from 300 new employees to just 100.

The new layoffs come even as Reddit is facing quite a bit of backlash for its updated API pricing. The developer of the popular Apollo Reddit client, Christian Selig, recently said Reddit's price changes for accessing its API, which is currently scheduled to go into effect on July 1, would cost him $1.7 million a month.

As a result, some popular subreddits plan to "go dark" for 48 hours starting June 12 to protest Reddit's higher API costs. They will switch to private mode at that time and will only be available to current users. Some subreddits claim they will remain "dark" unless Reddit makes changes to its plans.

As we mentioned, Reddit is the latest company to make the decision to cut jobs. Most of the major tech businesses have done the same. That includes Microsoft, which eliminated 10,000 jobs in January 2023.

Some companies have had more than one round of layoffs, including Amazon and Meta. A few businesses have cut spending and reduced hiring but they have not resorted to mass job cuts yet. That includes Netflix and Apple, although the latter did reportedly cut a small number of employees in April from its retail corporate division.

Reddit is the latest tech company to announce layoffs, affecting 5 percent of its workers

Microsoft has no shame: Bing spit on my ‘Chrome’ search with a fake AI answer

These days, TSMC has become world’s chip manufacturing powerhouse. AMD, Nvidia, Qualcomm, Broadcom and even Intel these days for their Arc GPUs, ask TSMC to make chips for them.

These companies design the chips and Taiwan based TSMC manufacturers them. The reason is simple, TSMC has the latest tech, capacity and ability to do so in a grand manner.

Currently, TSMC is delivering chips made on the 3nm node. Some months ago, we reported how TSMC is going to start the production of it’s 1nm chips in 2028.

But what about 2nm. TSMC is unlikely to jump from 3nm to 1nm directly. That’s not going to happen, as the tech required for 1nm is too complex.

This is where 2nm comes in. Till now, we had no information about when TSMC will start the production of 2nm wafers. Now we do.

2nm Trial This Year, Mass Production Two Years Later

United Daily News reports (translated) that TSMC is in a hurry to start the trial production of 2nm wafers. It has recently started the pre-production of the chips.

Such is the speed that it is expected that TSMC is going to start a small scale trial production of the 2nm chips this year itself. Which is a big surprise.

The report says that the trial will produce 1,000 pieces this year. By pieces, we guess it means complete 300 mm sized wafers.

By next year, TSMC will start producing the chips at a relatively larger level. However, the mass production of 2nm wafers is expected only two years later, in 2025.

Additionally, N2P and N2X upgrades to the 2nm process are expected to launch by 2026.

Tech To Be Used In TSMC 2nm

The article mentions that TSMC is going to use gate-all-around (GAA) architecture for its 2nm node transistors.

Interestingly, Samsung has started mass production of GAA based 3nm chips a year ago.

Intel isn’t far behind with GAA, either. It has named it RibbonFET and it is going to start mass-producing transistors to be used in their CPUs based on RibbonFET in the first half of next year. Intel will use this in their 20A (2nm node), which for now looks more advanced than TSMC’s 2nm node.

TSMC’s 2nm node is also going to use backside power delivery mechanism, which is said to improve the performance of transistors while using lesser power.

Here too, TSMC is competing with Intel. Just a day ago, Intel displayed what it calls PowerVia, a backside power delivery mechanism. Intel claims it provides over 90% cell utilization and over 6% improvement in frequency.

The report on TSMC concludes by mentioning how TSMC will use Nvidia’s powerful servers to manufacture chips on the 2nm. Something that TSMC has worked with Nvidia for four long years.

Either way. TSMC claims that their 2nm node will provide 1.15x density over N3E, which is its most advanced node on 3nm. It also claims their 2nm process will provide 15% speed improvement over same power usage and will use 30% less power at same speeds.

Price Increase

The big problem with TSMC however is the price. From years, it is increasing the prices of its wafers. Digitimes is reporting (via Tom’s Hardware) that TSMC intends to increase the prices further by up to 6% next year.

So yes. Intel and Samsung aren’t far behind. But in TSMC has numbers, capacity, ability and most importantly, customers like Nvidia.

Customers who are prepared to pay huge amounts of money and book the capacities of TSMC, no matter how much they charge.

Customers are who want TSMC to deliver the latest tech possible quickly. Looks like TSMC is trying its best to do that.

TSMC To Start 2nm Trials This Year, Mass Production In 2025

The new GPUs are aimed at professionals with their 12 GB of video memory (VRAM) and can support up to four displays with high dynamic range and Dolby Vision. Compared to existing Intel Arc Pro GPUs, these GPUs offer 16 PCIe lanes, 384 GB/s memory bandwidth, 256 AI X Matrix Extensions engines, and 16 ray tracing units.

With the growing importance of AV1, Intel decided to include full media encode and decode support in these GPUs. With all the attributes mentioned, Intel said that these GPUs are ideal for computer-aided design and modelling, AI inferencing tasks, and media processing in dedicated business environments.

The company said it will issue quarterly driver releases for both products that bring performance optimizations. It also said they will be ISV-certified by applications such as Autodesk 3ds Max, Autodesk AutoCAD, Autodesk Fusion 360, Autodesk Inventor, Autodesk Maya, Bentley MicroStation, Dassault Systèmes SOLIDWORKS, Nemetscheck VectorWorks, PTC Creo, Siemens NX, and Siemens Solid Edge.

In addition to the programs listed above, Intel said that the GPUs are also optimized to run applications like Blender and other media/entertainment applications. It also said that they will run rendering and ray tracing libraries in the Intel oneAPI Rendering Toolkit to help create high-performance and high-fidelity visual experiences at scale.

In terms of availability, the Intel Arc Pro A60 will be available for workstation desktops in the coming weeks through authorized distributors. The Intel Arc Pro A60M for laptops and other mobile systems will be available from OEM partners in the coming months. You can learn more about the Intel Arc Pro A60 and A60M on Intel's website.

Intel Arc Pro A60 and Pro A60M GPUs unveiled, coming in the next weeks and months

This is Apple’s Vision Pro headset. It looks a bit like a particularly bulky pair of ski goggles, with the materials and design language of Apple’s AirPods Max headphones.

Samuel Axon

 

CUPERTINO, Calif.—Going into the Vision Pro demo room at Apple’s WWDC conference, I wasn’t sure what to expect. The keynote presentation, which showed everything from desktop productivity apps to dinosaurs circling a Vision Pro user in space, seemed impressive, but augmented reality promotional videos often do.

 

They depict a seamless experience in which the elements of digital space merge with the user’s actual surroundings completely. When you actually put on the headset, though, you'll often find that the promotional video was pure aspiration and reality still has some catching up to do. That was my experience with HoloLens, and it’s been that way with consumer AR devices like Nreal, too.

 

That was not my experience with Vision Pro. To be clear, it wasn’t perfect. But it’s the first time I’ve tried an AR demo and thought, “Yep, what they showed in the promo video was pretty much how it really works.”

 

(Quick note: Apple wouldn’t allow photos of me wearing the headset—or any other photos during the demo, for that matter. The photos in this article are of a headset put on display after Monday’s keynote.)

Getting set up

Before I was able to put on Vision Pro and try it, Apple gathered some information about my vision—specifically, that I was wearing contact lenses and that I'm nearsighted but not farsighted. This was to see if I needed corrective vision inserts, as glasses would not fit in the headset. Since I was wearing contacts, I didn’t.

 

An Apple rep also handed me an iPhone, which I used to scan my face with the TrueDepth sensor array. This was to create a virtual avatar, called a "persona," for FaceTime calls (more on that shortly) and to pick the right modular components for the headset to make sure it fit my head.

 

When the headset goes on sale, you’ll be able to use your iPhone to do all this while ordering Vision Pro online. If you don’t have an iPhone, you’ll be able to go into the Apple Store, and they'll do it for you there.

 

As for the vision part, glasses wearers sometimes find it uncomfortable to wear VR headsets because their glasses might not fit comfortably inside. Other headsets are made large enough to accommodate glasses, but then they’re unwieldy. In typical Apple fashion, the company wants Vision Pro users to throw money at the problem. Inserts matched to your glasses prescription will fit magnetically inside the headset, so you won’t have to wear glasses or contacts at all. It seems that this will be part of the buying process for Vision Pro.

 

Additionally, I was able to confirm that because these magnetic inserts are not permanent, you can swap them out for different people—so if you and your spouse both need corrective lenses and each want to use the headset, you can buy one headset and get different vision inserts. Apple hasn’t said how much this will cost, though.

 

The iPhone was also used to scan my ears with the same sensors for an optimal Spatial Audio configuration.

 

Once I was handed a headset to put on, Apple had equipped it with the right parts and data to tailor it to my specifications. After all that, the headset fit perfectly, and it took very little adjustment to get it to settle on my head. It was lightweight; I wore it for about half an hour and did not feel any physical fatigue.

 

The one stain on an otherwise comfortable fit was the fact that Vision Pro has a battery pack attached by a tether. Shaped and weighted like a thick iPhone, it slotted into my pocket easily, and the wire connecting the battery to the headset never got in my way—but I could still feel it there.

 

The best part was the interface

I was able to touch, examine, and wear the headset. An Apple representative walked me through the basic interface, and I browsed a home screen full of apps.

 

Vision Pro’s interface is all about eye tracking. Whenever you look at a UI element (like an X to close a window or a photo within a gallery in the Photos app), it is subtly highlighted in your view. To actually make a selection—to click, if you will—you simply tap two of your fingers together. You don’t have to hold your hand in front of the headset to do this; as long as your hand is not hidden completely behind you, it can be pretty much anywhere. To scroll, you pinch and move your fingers up and down or side to side. It feels a bit like pulling a string to open window blinds.

 

In my testing, the eye tracking was perfectly accurate and responsive. It reminded me of using a similar feature in PlayStation VR2, but it felt just a bit more accurate. If you’ve used well-implemented eye tracking in VR before, you know it becomes intuitive and natural almost immediately.

 

I’ve used headsets that required hand gestures, but it never felt very natural. With Vision Pro, it feels just right. The fact that your hand can go anywhere, and that you can pinch subtly instead of making some kind of dramatic gesture, goes a long way.

 

If you’ve used a Meta VR headset, a PlayStation VR, or almost any PC VR device, you know how awkward it can be to carry controllers in your hands. Now that I’ve used Apple’s interface, it will be hard to go back to using controllers again. This approach is not only more immersive; it’s much more practical.

 

I was able to launch windows for multiple apps and arrange them around me. Moving them around involved simply gazing at a small white line beneath each, pinching to match what on desktop would be holding down the left mouse button, and turning my eyes to where I wanted the window to go. I was able to place windows in an array around me, and I was even able to overlap them on top of each other. Whichever one I looked at appeared in front in that moment. All of this worked well, and I had no complaints. In this respect, there’s nothing to criticize: Apple has nailed the interface.

 

There’s one other aspect to the interface worth noting: adjusting your immersion level.

 

Turning the headset’s digital crown smoothly transitions between total immersion at one extreme and absolute passthrough at the other. The headset captures your surroundings (depth perception included) and displays them on the two screens in front of your eyes. When you’re turned all the way to passthrough, you see what you’d see if you weren’t wearing Vision Pro at all—albeit a bit darker and with just the slightest bit of softness.

 

As you turn the knob from immersion to passthrough, the digital elements slowly crossfade to whichever in-between state you want; it’s like changing the transparency level on a UI element in a 2D interface. If you turn the crown all the way, the digital objects disappear completely via a sort of vignette effect—kind of like those transitions in Star Wars where the initial shot disappears into a shrinking circle, revealing the next scene.

 

Further, Vision Pro recognizes when someone is standing or sitting near you and crossfades them into partial view, even if you’re far along the scale toward immersion. This is effective but very surreal. The face of an Apple rep sitting next to me was clearly visible, but he looked like a semi-transparent apparition floating strangely in my virtual reality environment—it was a bit like the visual effects you’ve seen movies use to represent ghosts or spirits, sort of there but sort of not.

A good display goes a long way

Most VR headsets I’ve used were held back by poor displays. For example, for all its high-end specs, the Valve Index’s LCD screens have terrible black levels, leaving the image looking washed out. Many of us have trained our eyes to ignore this when watching on a flat screen, but in VR, it drives home the “this isn’t really real” factor. Other headsets, like Sony’s first PlayStation VR or the Meta Quest, suffer from relatively low resolutions, so everything just looks a bit fuzzy.

 

The most impressive display in a headset I had seen up to this point was Sony’s PlayStation VR2, which has a higher-resolution OLED display that offers near-perfect black levels and HDR brightness on highlights. The Vision Pro is more akin to the PSVR2 than any of the others. As far as I could tell, it was maybe even better.

 

Apple hasn’t been very specific about the specs, here. It has said that each eye has a display that’s a little over 4K, and the display is micro-OLED, hence the deep blacks. For as high as the brightness is supposed to be, I felt the screen was a little dim—probably 30–40 percent dimmer than reality, based on my subjective experience. It was much brighter than a Meta Quest, but it still didn’t capture the full range my eyes could in the real world.

 

I asked Apple if users could turn up the brightness in the final product but was told the company didn’t have anything to announce on that and was reminded that I was testing pre-production hardware.

 

Still, it was much better than other headsets I’ve used on this front, even if it still wasn’t perfect.

 

Another problem in most AR headsets is field of view. Since many AR products are trying to project a digital image onto see-through glass in front of you, they can run into some fundamental problems of optics. The result is that digital content is usually constrained to a small box that occupies only a tiny fraction of your field of view.

 

By contrast, Apple’s headset (which captures the outside world with 3D cameras and presents it to you digitized via a VR-like immersive view) has no such limitation. The company wouldn’t say exactly what the FOV is, but to me, it seemed comparable to VR headsets. You don’t have your full peripheral vision, but the digital elements can go anywhere in view—not just in a limited square.

 

Further, the digital elements sit in 3D space. Some AR devices simply create a virtual flat panel in front of you into which all the digital stuff goes. With Vision Pro, you can arrange multiple flat panels in the room around you, and some things are fully 3D objects in that space, not just panels.

The strangest phone call I’ve ever had

A short time into my demo, I received a FaceTime call from an Apple rep in another room. Like me, she was wearing the Vision Pro headset.

 

Her talking head appeared in a small, square window that I could move anywhere I wanted in the space around me. What I was seeing wasn’t actually her, though. Rather, it was her digital persona, a 3D model of her face that moved in real-time to match her real-life expressions as captured by her own headset’s cameras.

 

The portal to Jurassic Park

Allowing you to share a virtual space with dinosaurs isn’t a fresh concept. Using a Meta or PC VR headset, you might have seen one or more “experiences” that transport you to a prehistoric world where a dinosaur towers over you.

 

And on the AR side, popular iOS and Android apps allow you to see the true scale of some dinosaurs through the viewport of your phone screen as you hold your mobile device in front of you and the dinosaur is placed into the phone’s rear camera view.

 

So when Apple told me the demo would end with a dinosaur encounter app, I admit I had low expectations.

 

But as soon as I launched the app, I realized it would be a little different. Slowly, part of one of the walls in the square room I sat in turned into a doorway to a 3D-rendered rocky environment with blue skies above. This viewport mapped perfectly onto the wall, and the depth perception I had suggested that it really was a door in the wall that led to a very different setting outside. High-fidelity, 3D-rendered dinosaurs walked around on the other side of this portal. Because the dinosaurs were in an also-3D-rendered environment, this seemed similar to the dinosaur experiences I’ve seen in other VR headsets.

 

But then something happened I hadn't seen before—at least not in anything close to this fidelity. One of the dinosaurs walked over and seamlessly poked through the portal and into the room. I was able to walk up to it and examine it as if it were in the room next to me, and its head turned to stare at me as I walked around the room.

 

The dinosaur cast a shadow in the room and was lit naturally by the lamps nearby. Placing the dinosaur in a real space like that made it much more convincing than any other VR dinosaur video or game I’d seen before.

 

This experience confirmed something I’ve always figured: If someone could get AR right, it would be much more impactful than VR.

First impressions: This is not a VR headset

All the rumors leading up to this announcement positioned the Vision Pro as a competitor to Meta’s VR headsets, but after using it, I don’t see it that way, for two reasons—both of which my colleague Kyle Orland went into detail about yesterday.

 

First, Meta is making a mass-market product. The regular Quest headset is essentially the lowest common denominator—or the minimum viable product—to keep the cost down. It’s just good enough to provide a solid VR experience, but no more than that. If it offered more, it would be pricier. Meanwhile, Apple’s Vision Pro is extraordinarily expensive. It’s not just for the high-end of the market—it’s barely priced as a mass-market device at all.

 

But much more importantly, Meta’s headsets are first and foremost VR devices that happen to have a couple of AR features. Vision Pro, on the other hand, is primarily an AR device that just happens to have a few VR features. They’re largely offering different uses for different people.

 

In fact, despite all the rumors calling it VR (and despite some articles still erroneously doing so) the Vision Pro is not a VR headset at all—even though it uses VR-like techniques to present the real world to you. It can do some things a VR headset can do, but none of the use cases Apple showed me—not even any that were shown in Monday’s keynote—would be called virtual reality.

 

Whether it’s telepresence via FaceTime, turning the room into your personal spatial computing space, watching movies on a virtual TV mapped to the geometry of your wall, or interacting with dinosaurs that are standing next to you, it’s augmented reality. It’s all about putting virtual objects in real space.

 

Tellingly, Apple hasn’t announced any immersive VR games for the device. The few games the company did talk about during the WWDC keynote were 2D games played on a virtual TV.

 

Even when turning the crown all the way up to maximize immersion, I was still much more aware of my surroundings than in any VR headset. So if you’re expecting a successor to the Oculus and Meta Quest throne, forget about it. That’s not what Vision Pro is.

 

Instead, it’s a first look at something else entirely. It’s far too soon to say whether there will be a market for it, and I won't say it’s worth its ultra-steep price for most people—in part because the demo I received was highly controlled, and there was no opportunity to discover friction points or edge cases.

 

Regardless, even having used dozens of VR and AR headsets over the years, it was truly something I had never seen before. It’s been a while since we’ve gotten that from Apple.

 

Hands-on with Apple Vision Pro: This is not a VR headset

The Apple R1 processor takes center stage as a dedicated chip meticulously engineered to meet the demands of mixed-reality headsets, with the Vision Pro being a prime example. Functioning in harmony with the M2 chip, which powers Apple's renowned MacBook Air, the R1 processor brings a new level of sensory immersion and interactivity to users.

Apple R1 chip is designed to power Apple Vision Pro - Image courtesy of Apple

What Apple R1 chip is capable of?

The Apple R1 chip complements the M2 processor by assuming responsibility for processing data gathered from a remarkable suite of sensors incorporated into the Vision Pro headset.

With an impressive ensemble of 12 cameras, 5 sensors, and 6 microphones, the R1 chip processes incoming information with exceptional speed. Impressively, it achieves this feat in an astonishing 12 milliseconds—8 times faster than the human blink. This rapid processing is crucial to minimizing delays and ensuring a seamless experience, ultimately reducing the risk of motion sickness and disorientation among users.

Mitigating motion sickness and disorientation

One of Apple's primary objectives with the Apple R1 chip is to address the challenges of motion sickness commonly associated with virtual and augmented reality experiences. By delivering real-time processing of sensory input, the Apple R1 chip enables users to perceive their surroundings with minimal latency. Any perceptible lag between physical movement and corresponding visual feedback can trigger motion sickness, compromising the user's comfort and experience.

The Apple R1 chip's lightning-fast processing significantly reduces the likelihood of such issues, allowing for smoother and more enjoyable mixed-reality interactions.

Users will have minimal latency while interacting with their surrounding in mixed-reality space thanks to the Apple R1 chip - Image: Apple

Battery life considerations

While the inclusion of both the R1 and M2 chips in the Vision Pro headset provides unparalleled performance, it does come at a cost. With two processors simultaneously at work, the battery life of the headset is limited to approximately two hours on a single charge. This may come as a surprise to MacBook Air users, who have come to appreciate the M2 chip's impressive energy efficiency. However, given the demanding processing requirements of the R1 chip, additional power consumption is unavoidable. It is important for users to consider this limitation when planning extended use of the headset and to make provisions for recharging as needed.

The high price of high technology

The advanced technology and innovative design that goes into developing the Apple R1 chip inevitably contribute to the overall cost of the Vision Pro headset. Priced at $3499, the headset is a significant investment. While the inclusion of both the R1 and M2 processors certainly plays a role in this higher price point, it is essential to acknowledge the comprehensive range of cutting-edge features and capabilities offered by the Vision Pro.

As with any premium product, the cost reflects the level of technology, sophistication, and immersive experience that Apple aims to deliver to its discerning users.

The Apple R1 chip is unfortunately the reason behind the skyrocketing price of Apple's AR headset - Image: Apple

The Apple R1 chip, together with the M2 processor, propels the Apple Vision Pro headset into a league of its own. By integrating the R1 chip's lightning-fast processing capabilities, Apple has mitigated the challenges of motion sickness, ensuring a smoother and more immersive mixed-reality experience.

Despite the impact on battery life and the higher price point, the Vision Pro's innovative technology and unmatched performance justify its status as a game-changer in the sector of mixed reality.

Apple R1 chip is the power behind future technology

In an email, Microsoft stated that it has seen half a billion chats created by users since the launch., along with over 200 million images made by users with the AI-based art maker Bing Image Creator. It also has seen the use of its Bing mobile app go up by eight times since Bing Chat's launch. It added:

Despite this progress, many people have not yet explored or grasped its full potential. Microsoft’s campaign aims to address this challenge by sparking creativity and curiosity to highlight the new possibilities of asking more fun and compelling questions.

The campaign includes some new videos posted on the Bing YouTube channel. One video shows how users can switch to Bing Chat's creative mode to ask it to write up a "funny bridesmaid speech".

Another video shows how using Bing Chat in Creative Mode can result in learning how to cook an Ube ribeye.

The final video showed perhaps the most interesting use of Bing Chat. In Balanced Mode, the request is to "write a poem about every NBA player with jersey #5".

Microsoft says we can expect more Bing Chat marketing campaigns across various digital and social networking outlets, along with OOH (Out-of-home) platforms.

We recently celebrated the 14th anniversary of the launch of Bing Search, which officially happened on June 3, 2009. At that time, Microsoft had a massive $100 million marketing and advertising campaign to promote the new search engine. It included some rather entertaining TV commercials.

Microsoft launches new Bing Chat marketing push to show how to use text prompts