News: Technology News

Apple’s October ‘Unleashed’ event: what to expect

Sun, 17 Oct 2021 23:33:27 +0000

The Mac rumors have been abound

Apple has announced an event for October 18th, with a video containing the title “Unleashed.” If you’ve been watching the rumor mill, it won’t come as a surprise — the company still has a lot of products that are expected to come out this year but haven’t shown up in an Apple keynote.

Chief among those are new, more powerful MacBook Pros, which will follow the incredible Apple Silicon-powered 13-inch MacBook Pro that launched last November. The company is also expected to release new AirPods, and it’s got an entire OS that was announced but hasn’t shipped. Read on for a deep dive into the rumors surrounding these products and more.

Redesigned MacBook Pros

Most of the rumors about the event concern redesigned MacBook Pros, which are expected to feature 14- and 16-inch screens, along with a new Apple processor. Mark Gurman and Ming-Chi Kuo (who have pretty solid track records when it comes to rumors) have both said that the laptops will feature iPhone 12-esque flat sides with a redesigned MagSafe charging port and that they’ll no longer have the Touch Bar that’s been a staple of many MacBook Pros since 2016.

Apple is also rumored to be bringing ports back to its laptops with the redesign. The new MacBooks Pros may include an SD card reader and HDMI and MagSafe ports, which will be familiar (and possibly beloved) by people who miss the days when MacBooks had more than one type of port.

Mark Gurman reports that the laptops will be powered by new chips, which are expected to be more powerful variants of the M1 processor found in today’s computers. The “M1X” (or M2, or whatever name Apple actually goes with) is expected to have more high-performance cores than its predecessor (eight instead of four) and even offer a choice of 16 or 32 graphics cores (compared to the M1’s seven or eight). What’s still unclear is whether the new processor will do away with any of the seeming limitations of the M1: none of the Apple Silicon Macs are configurable with more than 16GB of RAM or 2TB of storage, they can’t run more than two displays, and none of them have more than two Thunderbolt ports (the iMac has at most two Thunderbolt ports and two USB-C ports). Traditionally, the higher-end MacBook Pros have four Thunderbolt ports, though the inclusion of MagSafe and HDMI may make that less necessary.

The configuration screen for an Intel-based MacBook Pro. Just having options for graphics cores would be much easier to explain to new buyers than Turbo Boosts and base clocks.

If you’re thinking, “Wow, these new computers sound like everything I ever could’ve wanted,” you’re not alone — a lot of people are hyped about the rumors (though it’s worth keeping in mind that those don’t always pan out). If it turns out that Apple has taken all of the community’s feedback to heart, the chip shortage could make these laptops hot-ticket items for quite a while.

A Pro Mac Mini

Gurman also recently reported that a more powerful Mac mini would be coming soon, featuring the same processor found in the updated MacBook Pros and more ports than are currently available on the M1-powered Mini. It’s an interesting rumor because the M1 Mini has one of the widest port selections available on an M1 Mac with USB-A, HDMI, two Thunderbolt ports, and optional 10-gigabit ethernet. But the 2018 Intel-based version, which a lot of people think of as the Mac Mini Pro (in part due to its space grey color), has all of that plus two more Thunderbolt ports. For those looking for a powerful Apple-powered desktop, a replacement for the 2018 Mac Mini could be a great option, given the lack of rumors about a 27-inch iMac.

Apple is still selling the Intel-powered 2018 Mac Mini.

New AirPods

Gurman, Kuo, and Nikkei have all reported that Apple is working on a follow-up to its regular, non-Pro AirPods and have said that the headphones will feature the shorter stems found on their more expensive counterparts. It feels like AirPods would’ve fit in better at Apple’s iPhone event, but given that they were absent, we may end up seeing them on the 18th. There is also always the (hilarious) possibility that Apple just announces them via press release like it did the AirPods Pro and Max, but with how popular the original ones were, it feels like their successors should get some event time.

Apple announced macOS Monterey in June.

Image: Apple

A macOS Monterey release date

Apple has released iOS and iPadOS 15, but macOS Monterey, which was announced alongside them, is still in beta. It would be a bit strange if Apple released new Macs that were running macOS Big Sur out of the box, especially given that Monterey was announced about three months ago at WWDC. If Apple doesn’t announce that the new version of macOS is shipping with the redesigned MacBook Pros, I’ll be pretty surprised.

Apple’s October ‘Unleashed’ event: what to expect

Steam bans all games based on blockchain technology that allow exchange of NFTs

Sat, 16 Oct 2021 04:26:07 +0000

Valve has had a bit of a problematic history when it comes to content moderation on its game distribution platform, Steam. Back in 2014, Hatred was removed from Steam Greenlight because it enabled players to take control of a character who is a mass murderer. The game was later reinstated with an apology from Valve President Gabe Newell. Similarly, Valve faced backlash in 2018 for allowing a title that allow players to take on the role of a school shooter, the game was subsequently removed. It also got into hot water for censoring anime-style titles featuring adult content. Soon after, the company changed its policies to allow "everything" on its platform, while still maintaining a basic set of rules.

Now, Valve has updated its regulations once again to ban all games built on blockchain technology from its platform.

The change was first spotted by SpacePirate Games, the developer behind blockchain-based Age of Rust. And this is because Valve issued the company a notice stating that it is removing games based on blockchain technology that allow the exchange of cryptocurrencies or non-fungible tokens (NFTs). According to SpacePirate Games, the reasoning offered by Valve is as follows:

Steam's point of view is that items have value and they don't allow items that can have real-world value on their platform. While I respect their choice, I fundamentally believe that NFTs and blockchain games are the future. It's why I started this journey with all of you.

This is a bit odd, to say the least, considering that Valve has a dedicated marketplace that allows the exchange of cosmetic in-game items. These items can reach several hundred and even thousands of dollars in real-world currency depending upon their rarity and demand. Valve also gets a cut out of every transaction. As such, it makes little sense to ban blockchain-based games for this reason alone.

It's unclear when this modification in regulations was made to Steam's onboarding page. It has been added as rule number 13 in the guidelines here, alongside prohibiting content that promotes hate speech or sexual images of real people, among other things. Valve is yet to issue a formal comment on the matter.

Meanwhile, Epic Games CEO and co-founder Tim Sweeney has tweeted that the company's storefront is open to blockchain-based games. The executive went on to say that:

Epic Games Store will welcome games that make use of blockchain tech provided they follow the relevant laws, disclose their terms, and are age-rated by an appropriate group. Though Epic's not using crypto in our games, we welcome innovation in the areas of technology and finance.

As a technology, the blockchain is just a distributed transactional database with a decentralized business model that incentivize investment in hardware to expand the database's capacity. This has utility whether or not a particular use of it succeeds or fails.

While the market for blockchain-based games is likely not huge right now, it remains to be seen whether the en masse departure of affected developers from Steam to the Epic Games Store will force Valve to revert its policies yet again.

Steam bans all games based on blockchain technology that allow exchange of NFTs

Dragon Age 4 is reportedly a next-gen exclusive

Fri, 15 Oct 2021 23:13:43 +0000

Thanks to a leak, it appears that BioWare’s upcoming Dragon Age 4 will only be releasing on the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.

That’s according to BioWare’s former lead player designer’s LinkedIn profile, which states that Dragon Age 4 will only be released on “PS5/Xbox Series X+S/PC.” This leak has been further corroborated by VentureBeat who report that “EA is planning the game only for the new-gen systems.”

With Dragon Age 4 still largely shrouded in mystery, we can hardly say that we were too surprised at this news, as the game is still likely quite a while away from release. It’s even rumoured that the release date could be as far away as 2023 since EA is planning a release in the next fiscal year.

With supply chain issues having prevented many from getting their hands on a next-gen console, there will undoubtedly be plenty of disappointment alongside the demand for a current-gen release, however before Dragon Age 4 comes out, the supply chain issues will, hopefully, have been predominantly resolved so people can actually buy the latest generation of consoles.

While we may not know a lot about Dragon Age 4 there’s a slight chance that we could hear more during this year’s The Game Awards. Until then, here’s a bit about what we’re hoping for from the game.

Dragon Age 4 is reportedly a next-gen exclusive

“Unleashed”: Apple’s next, probably Mac-focused event happens October 18

Tue, 12 Oct 2021 23:41:31 +0000

We expect to hear news about faster Apple Silicon Macs and macOS Monterey.

Apple

Apple would like you to mark another date on your calendar. The company's next product announcement event will take place on Monday, October 18, at 10 am PDT, just over a month after its last event. As ever, we'll be following along with our typical liveblog and in-depth coverage as the announcements happen.

The company's September announcements focused on iPhones, iPads, and the Apple Watch, as well as new software updates for those devices. We expect the October event to be devoted largely to the Mac lineup—namely, long-rumored Apple Silicon refreshes to the MacBook Pro lineup, possibly with a faster Mac mini or a larger-screened iMac thrown in. The 16-inch MacBook Pro in particular is long overdue for a refresh—Apple added some new GPU options in mid-2020, but the laptop's other specs haven't been touched since late 2019.

We also expect to hear about a release date for macOS Monterey, which has remained in beta as Apple's other OS updates have rolled out to the public. Monterey is a relatively minor update compared to Big Sur's splashy redesign last year, but our in-depth review will cover the changes, just like every year.

“Unleashed”: Apple’s next, probably Mac-focused event happens October 18

Why archaeology will be the next harbour for technology

Tue, 12 Oct 2021 21:36:42 +0000

We are entering a golden era of archaeological discoveries where technology will be at its core.

Today archaeologists are equipped with the newest technological tools that allow identifying hidden structures in a matter of hours. Laser scanners (LiDAR) and satellite imagery are revolutionising the archaeological field the same way the Hubble Space Telescope revolutionised astronomy. Soon robotics and artificial intelligence will become an essential part of the field too, transforming archaeology into a discipline of the future.

One of the main tools transforming archaeology is LiDAR (an acronym for Light Detection and Ranging). The tool relies on laser sensors that can be deployed from air (typically mounted on helicopters or drones), providing 3D imagery of ruins, even the ones deeply buried in nature.

Its accuracy in detecting hidden features has proven effective, particularly in South America and South-East Asia, where entire Maya and Khmer settlements have emerged beneath the tropical canopy (challenging the existing theories on how the two civilisations developed, dominated the regions and declined- with the role of climate change and resources management at its core).

LiDAR digitally removed the forest canopy revealing ancient Mayan ruins of Tikal – Image Credit : Wild Blue Media

Over 60,000 housing complexes, palaces, elevated highways, terraces, defensive walls, ramparts and fortresses have been revealed in the Petén region of Guatemala, making it the largest LiDAR project carried out so far (2,100 square kilometres).

Those were the mega-urban-webs of pre-industrial times: incredibly complex, highly urbanised, densely populated, and interconnected. Along with the archaeological findings, the survey also revealed thousands of modern-day dug pits. The sites are new to the archaeological community, but sadly not to the looters who pose the biggest threat to South American heritage.

Most recently the aerial scanner has been used to investigate the ancient city of Teotihuacán of what is now Central Mexico. Researchers have used the technology to understand how Teotihuacán was laid out (what type of landscape modifications were carried out) and how the modern city was built over it.

The results have further exposed how the ancient city planners have led large-scale quarrying and excavation projects, including redirecting the San Juan and San Lorenzo rivers to enable Teotihuacán to be astronomically aligned.

Another tool not to be overlooked is satellite imagery (often used in remote, extreme or conflict areas). Multi-spectral satellite imaging enables archaeologists to view different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum otherwise invisible to the naked eye, and also undetectable with photographic techniques.

The use of the imagery helps detect valuable indicators of human past activity from thermal, chemical cues, to subtle changes in vegetation growth that could indicate the presence of buried structures. Thousands of ancient settlements have been documented by analysing satellite images taken from over 600 km’s from the Earth’s surface (mostly in Egypt, and South America).

We may expect in the coming years a launch of a satellite specially designed for archaeological use, which would help monitor areas at risk and drastically accelerate the process of discovering ancient remains.

Yet the principal aspect of archaeology is to understand the sites in order to learn how people lived in specific times and places (understanding the past is also key to predicting the future that we are facing as species) and not just for the sake of discovering them, therefore, fieldwork will remain a core element. However, what we can expect is the evolution of excavation processes as archaeology is aiming at becoming more sustainable.

Soon, virtually unwrapping sites will become reality.

Instead of archaeologists carefully removing one layer at a time to document and analyse sites over the course of years, the use of scanners will virtually enable excavating them in a matter of hours, without disturbing the state of the archaeological remains.

De facto we will be able to practice more responsible archaeology if the circumstances require it. That means taking all available precautions not to over damage the sites, nor the artefacts. Like surgeons, archaeologists only get one shot at completing a successful archaeological operation. As the process of excavating begins, there is no way to undo the removal of excavated layers, therefore, using robotics will become an essential part of archaeology too.

We can therefore envision that in the near future archaeologists will deploy legions of tiny bots that will perform archaeological operations while documenting each step of the process. They would be used to collect samples (for example – DNA testing) without disturbing the integrity of the site.

A fleet of autonomously flying small drones equipped with thermal infrared and hyperspectral sensors, programmed to work as a unit will detect subsurface architecture with unparalleled accuracy in a matter of minutes while producing 3D scans.

Artificial intelligence will then produce an on-site report based on all the collected data, which would be then analysed by researchers.

It seems only logical that with the ongoing technological advancement archaeology will become one of the most technologically and scientifically advanced fields.

Written by Terry Madenholm

Terry Madenholm is a project partner for Drone Archaeology and focuses on identifying threatened archaeological sites (using non-invasive technologies, such as LiDAR, satellite imagery and drones), and building 3D models of endangered heritage.

Header Image Credit : Shutterstock

Source

The Death and Birth of Technological Revolutions

Tue, 12 Oct 2021 16:44:33 +0000

What was especially remarkable about Carlota Perez’s Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital was its timing: 2002 was the middle of the cold winter that followed the Dotcom Bubble, and here was Perez arguing that the IT revolution and the Internet were not in fact dead ideas, but in the middle of a natural transition to a new Golden Age.

Note: the following is a woefully incomplete summary of what is a brilliant — and very readable — book. Jerry Neumann has written an excellent overview of Perez’s theory at Reaction Wheel; I highly recommend reading that first if you are unfamiliar with Perez’s work.

Perez’s thesis was based on over 200 years of history and the patterns she identified in four previous technological revolutions:

The Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain in 1771, with the opening of Arkwright’s mill in Cromford
The Age of Steam and Railways began in the United Kingdom in 1829, with the test of the ‘Rocket’ steam engine for the Liverpool-Manchester railway
The Age of Steel, Electricity and Heavy Engineering began in the United States in 1875, with the opening of the Carnegie Bessemer steel plant in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
The Age of Oil, the Automobile, and Mass Production began in the United States in 1908, with the production of the first Ford Model-T in Detroit, Michigan
The Age of Information and Telecommunications began in the United States in 1971, with the announcement of the Intel microprocessor in Santa Clara, California

Perez’s argument was that the four technological revolutions that proceeded the Age of Information and Telecommunications followed a similar cycle:

However, this process is usually disjointed; Perez writes:

In real life, the trajectory of a technological revolution is not as smooth and continuous as the stylized curve presented in Figure 3.1. The process of installation of each new techno-economic paradigm in society begins with a battle against the power of the old, which is ingrained in the established production structure and embedded in the socio-cultural environment and in the institutional framework. Only when that battle has been practically won can the paradigm really diffuse across the whole economy of the core nations and later across the world…

In very broad terms, each surge goes through two periods of a very different nature, each lasting about three decades.

As shown in Figure 4.1, the first half can be termed the installation period. It is the time when the new technologies irrupt in a maturing economy and advance like a bulldozer disrupting the established fabric and articulating new industrial networks, setting up new infrastructures and spreading new and superior ways of doing things. At the beginning of that period, the revolution is a small fact and a big promise; at the end, the new paradigm is a significant force, having overcome the resistance of the old paradigm and being ready to serve as propeller of widespread growth.

The second half is the deployment period, when the fabric of the whole economy is rewoven and reshaped by the modernizing power of the triumphant paradigm, which then becomes normal best practice, enabling the full unfolding of its wealth generating potential.

What made Perez’s observation so trenchant in 2002 is that part in the middle: the turning point.

The Post-Dotcom Era

While the Installation Period begins with irruption as new technology emerges in pursuit of real world applications, it eventual transitions into a full-blown frenzy as speculative capital pursues increasingly fantastical commercial applications.

Reality, though, catches up, and the bubble pops.

This financial frenzy is a powerful force in propagating the technological revolution, in particular its infrastructure, and enhancing – even exaggerating – the superiority of the new products, industries and generic technologies. The ostentation of success pushes the logic of the new paradigm to the fore and makes it into the contemporary ideal of vitality and dynamism. It also contributes to institutional change, at least concerning the ‘destruction’ half of creative destruction.

At the same time, as mentioned before, all this excitement divides society, widening the gap between rich and poor and making it less and less tenable in social terms. The economy also becomes unsustainable, due to the appearance of two growing imbalances. One is the mismatch between the profile of demand and that of potential supply. The very process by which intense investment was made possible by concentrating income at the upper end of the spectrum becomes an obstacle for the expansion of production of any particular product and for the attainment of full economies of scale. The other is the rift between paper values and real values. So the system is structurally unstable and cannot grow indefinitely along that path.

With the collapse comes recession – sometimes depression – bringing financial capital back to reality. This, together with mounting social pressure, creates the conditions for institutional restructuring. In this atmosphere of urgency many of the social innovations, which gradually emerged during the period of installation, are likely to be brought together with new regulation in the financial and other spheres, to create a favorable context for recoupling and full unfolding of the growth potential. This crucial recomposition happens at the turning point which leaves behind the turbulent times of installation and paradigm transition to enter the ‘golden age’ that can follow, depending on the institutional and social choices made.

This certainly seems to describe the Dotcom Bubble, which was not only destructive to speculators directly but the economy broadly, even as its excesses, particularly in terms of broadband build-up, funded the infrastructure that would fuel the Internet over the next two decades. And, by extension, those two decades would seem to be the Golden Age of the “Deployment Period.” That certainly seems to be the case with technological dispersion: today over four billion people have access to the Internet, and thanks to the global nature of the web, those in developing countries can consume and create on the same platforms as the most well off.

Moreover, the “Capital” part of Perez’s theory seems to fit as well: some of the best returns over the last fifteen years have been in established public companies like Apple, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Facebook — “Production Capital”, in Perez’s nomenclature. Venture capital, meanwhile, which is theoretically speculative “Financial Capital”, has increasingly become professionalized and standardized, thanks in part to the rise of cloud platforms like AWS; building a new SaaS company to take on another old-world vertical certainly takes hard work, but the playbook is fairly well-known.

This was my thinking behind 2020’s The End of the Beginning; I wasn’t thinking of Perez when I wrote that, to be honest, even though I reached for the automobile example. It just seemed clear to me that the post Dotcom Bubble era had reached its natural endpoint as far as market structure was concerned; whatever came next would look significantly different.

Perez disagrees.

The Imminent Golden Age

While the introduction to Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital makes the case that the Dotcom Bubble was the Turning Point, Perez now thinks we are still waiting for the Golden Age — and that there may be another crash in the future (Perez now includes the Great Recession as part of the current revolution’s Turning Point).

Perez’s link is to the Financial Times’ Tech Tonic podcast; the pertinent part starts at the 3:48 mark:

The important thing is that the previous revolutions had the Golden Age after the recession that follows the crash. And we could now perhaps have a global sustainable Golden Age. I think it is perfectly possible with the current technologies.

What would be necessary to bring that Golden Age about? How do we need to tilt the playing field to make that happen?

Well “tilt the playing field” is the word. The first thing we have to understand is that every Golden Age has had to do with social-political choices made by governments, because capitalism really only becomes legitimate when the greed of some is for the benefit of the many.

I think in order to tell you what needs to happen next time I have to give you an example from the past, because otherwise we don’t learn anything from history, and that’s why it’s important to understand how revolutions happen before. The mass production revolution brought the post-War boom. Now what happened then? If we look at the 1930s, we have some similarities with today. We see xenophobia, we see a lot of people angry and following at that time fascism and communism, now all sorts of extremisms right and left, leaders that really offer heaven even though they cannot delivery, but the whole thing is that people are angry and disappointed.

But you also have something else which is very important, which is that there is an enormous technological potential which is not being used. Not enough investment is going in the possible innovations because there is not enough demand, and demand is normally created by some policies. But it has to be policies that are adequate for that particular revolution. So what was the previous revolution? It was about mass production. So what was the direction in which it was tilted?

Well, first of all it was the World War. And with the World War it was obvious that producing a lot of weapons made a lot of good business sense. They became cheaper and better and so on. But then at the end of the war, governments did something very important: they created a set of policies that favored suburbanization. Before the automobile you had railways, so you only had stations, and the land in-between was very cheap, it had no way of being used. But once you have the automobile you can build cheap mass-produced houses to put lots of electrical appliances inside and the car at the door. And at the same time governments made the welfare state so that workers could buy those houses. So you have home ownership and consumerism, that’s one of the directions, and the other direction was the Cold War of course, so that you had innovation going in the two directions.

If we had stayed in what was visible in the 30s, it was very difficult to imagine this Golden Age that came after the war. The same thing is happening to us now. In order to get the technologies to go in the right direction, you’ve got to tilt the playing field, and I hold that the most effective way of doing that today is tilting it towards ‘Green’.

Perez’s view on how a focus on “Green” policies could fuel a Golden Age are well fleshed-out in papers like A Smart Green ‘European Way of Life’: the Path for Growth, Jobs and Wellbeing; one insight that I find very compelling is that the demand that drives job growth is less about the technology itself and more about the new lifestyle that the technology enables (just like suburbanization drove the previous revolution).

It’s worth noting, though, that Perez has a somewhat darker interpretation of the 1930’s in Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital (emphasis mine):

Regarding recovery in the 1930s, one cannot look at the USA only. In Germany, with Hitler’s rise to power, the institutional framework was reoriented to facilitate the development of mass production (and later of mass destruction and genocide). The war economy that began after 1933 in Germany could be seen as a synergy phase of a sort. Fortunately, the Nazis failed to conquer Europe and lost the war; otherwise, National Socialist Germany might have been the center of a longer-lasting fascist world. At that same time, the Soviet economy too was developing very fast with another mode of growth that was also capable of intensively deploying mass production. This wide range of options for the deployment of that particular paradigm — including the Keynesian democracies that will have the USA as their core — is an indication of how much is at stake and how much is decided about the future of each country and of the world at the turning point of each surge.

This isn’t a throwaway observation; Perez’s chart of technological revolutions is clear that the U.S. and Europe were on different timelines:

The implication of this observation is that the “Synergy” phase is amoral; it is not guaranteed that the alignment of government with the new technological revolution and its resultant impact on people leads to a “better” outcome as far as liberal democracy is concerned. Perez noted in a footnote:

The mass-production revolution, which marked most of the institutions of the twentieth century, underlay the centralized governments and massive consumption patterns of the four great modes of growth that were set up to take advantage of those technologies: the Keynesian democracies, Nazi-fascism, Soviet socialism and State developmentalism in the so-called ‘Third World,’ each with very wide-ranging specificities.

Synergies are not always golden.

The China Model

Another observation from Perez is that new technological revolutions create the conditions for newcomers to “leapfrog”:

In periods of paradigm shift there is a window of opportunity for real catching up as well as for forging ahead. Belgium, France and the USA caught up in the installation period of the second surge; Germany and the USA forged ahead in that of the third. Most of Europe, Japan and the Soviet Union, caught up in the fourth (though the latter fell dramatically behind with the fifth).

This is where the absence of China from Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital is notable. The only mention is in the postscript:

Yet, in the globalized world of the present paradigm, demand is also global. The best promise of massive market expansion would seem to be in the incorporation of more and more countries to global growth, investment, production and consumption. Growth in the larger countries of the developing world, together with China, Russia and the ex-socialist group of Eastern Europe, could serve as a first tier to pull the others forward. It is quite obvious that these potentially huge markets are a very long way from saturation.

This was a view reflective of the era in which it was written, in which it was assumed that the Internet, in conjunction with globalization, would liberalize and ultimately democratize China. In 2000, President Bill Clinton, upon the occasion of the establishment of Permanent Normal Relations with China said in a speech:

When China joins the W.T.O., by 2005 it will eliminate tariffs on information technology products, making the tools of communication even cheaper, better, and more widely available. We know how much the Internet has changed America, and we are already an open society. Imagine how much it could change China.

Now there’s no question China has been trying to crack down on the Internet. (Chuckles.) Good luck! (Laughter.) That’s sort of like trying to nail jello to the wall. (Laughter.) But I would argue to you that their effort to do that just proves how real these changes are and how much they threaten the status quo. It’s not an argument for slowing down the effort to bring China into the world, it’s an argument for accelerating that effort. In the knowledge economy, economic innovation and political empowerment, whether anyone likes it or not, will inevitably go hand in hand.

Things obviously didn’t work out that way; if anything the Internet has allowed China to push its values onto Americans. What is worth noting, though, is that you can make the case that China has entered the Synergy phase in which government has aligned with technology to profoundly impact China’s citizens. That this entails mass surveillance, censorship, and propaganda doesn’t undo Perez’s thesis; it perhaps punctures her optimism.

There are signs a weaker, yet in some ways similar, form of synergy has happened in the U.S. as well; soon after the Dotcom Bubble came the Patriot Act, and while the political motivations were the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the implementation was very much about leveraging technology for government ends. The extent of this synergy only became clear in 2013 when the Snowden revelations exposed a vast web of surveillance conducted by tech and telecommunications companies in partnership with the NSA.

Then, over the last several years, there has been a concerted effort to push tech companies to increasingly limit misinformation on their networks, and post corrective information instead; it doesn’t take much squinting to re-label both efforts as censorship and propaganda. This is not, I would note, to pass judgment as to whether those efforts are right or wrong (although I am skeptical); merely to note that there may be more evidence of synergy between the government and tech than it seems. It’s all a bit dystopian, to be sure, but revolutions by their nature are unpredictable; it wasn’t a certainty that liberal democracy would triumph in the fourth revolution, much less the current one.

A Crypto Revolution?

As the tweet above makes clear, Perez relishes debate about her theories; I am one of many writers on the Internet who have had the distinct pleasure of getting an email out of the blue from Perez, and having a conversation where she pushes and prods to understand the other’s point of view, confident it will make her theses stronger.

And, in that spirit, I have to confess I’m not sure if this rebuttal to Perez’s current position — my sense that we are in the maturation phase of the technological revolution, complete with government synergy — is correct or not. Perez has noted that COVID-19 could end what she thinks is the elongated turning point era, much like World War II ended the elongated turning point era of the previous revolution (at least in the U.S.). It is notable, for example, that the tech industry has also been an essential element in various government lockdown strategies during the COVID pandemic, most obviously by making it possible for the economy to continue to function while people work from home, and also in enabling a work-from-home lifestyle via e-commerce and food delivery services, with all of the commensurate jobs entailed in providing these services. That is a fundamental change to society that is only getting started — perhaps a new Golden Era is in fact imminent.

At the same time, it is notable that crypto, the most obvious candidate for the next technological revolution is not — contra Perez — an obvious extension of the current era. The overarching story of Stratechery has been the rise and consolidation of the aforementioned Big 5 tech companies, and the entire premise of Aggregation Theory is the inevitability of centralization in a world of frictionless abundance. Crypto, though, is about the introduction of scarcity; its payoff is decentralization, at the cost, at least for now, of convenience and speed.

Perez writes in Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital about what the Maturity phase looks like:

This is the twilight of the golden age, though it shines with false splendor. It is the drive to maturity of the paradigm and to the gradual saturation of markets. The last technology systems and the last products in each of them have very short life cycles, since accumulated experience leads to very rapid learning and saturation curves. Gradually the paradigm is taken to its ultimate consequences until it shows up its limitations.

Yet, all the signs of prosperity and success are still around. Those who reaped the full benefits of the ‘golden age’ (or of the gilded one) continue to hold on to their belief in the virtues of the system and to proclaim eternal and unstoppable progress, in a complacent blindness, which could be called the ‘Great Society syndrome’. But the unfulfilled promises had been piling up, while most people nurtured the expectation of personal and social advance. The result is an increasing socio-political split…this is a time when deep questions about the system are being asked in many quarters; the climate is favorable for politics and ideological confrontations to come to the fore. The social ferment can become intense and is sometimes quelled with social reforms.

Meanwhile, in the world of big business, markets are saturating and technologies maturing, therefore profits begin to feel the productivity constriction. Ways are being sought for propping them up, which often involve concentration through mergers or acquisitions, as well as export drives and migration of activities to less-saturated markets abroad. Their relative success makes firms amass even more money without profitable investment outlets. The search for technological solutions lifts the implicit ban on truly new technologies outside the logic of the now exhausted paradigm. The stage is set for the decline of the whole mode of growth and for the next technological revolution.

That seems awfully descriptive of the current era, no? Products that break through reach saturation in record time (see TikTok reaching a billion users in three years, or DTC companies that seem to max out in only a couple of years), while the future of established companies seems to be quagmire in legislators and the courts, even as profits continue to pile up without obvious places to invest. And if the government’s response to the revolution has been disappointing, that also may be because of the revolution itself.

Moreover, to the extent the dystopian picture above is correct — that the real synergy has been between centralized governments and centralized tech companies, to the alarm of both those abroad and in the U.S. — the greater the motivation there is to make the speculative investments that drive the next paradigm, especially if that paradigm operates in direct opposition to the current one. To be sure this framework does imply that crypto is full of scams and on its way to inflating a spectacular bubble, the aftermath of which will be painful for many, but that is both expected and increasingly borne out by the facts as well. What will matter for the future is how much infrastructure — particularly wallet installation — can be built-out in the meantime.

For what it’s worth my suspicion is that the current Installation period for crypto — if that is indeed where we are — has a long ways to run, which is another way of saying most of the economy will remain in the current paradigm for a while longer. The time from the Intel microprocessor to the Dotcom Bubble bursting was 30 years (and, it should be noted, there were a lot of smaller, more localized bubbles along the way); Satoshi Nakamoto only published his paper in 2008. Thirteen years after 1971 was 1984, the year the Mac was introduced; the browser was another 9 years away. It’s one thing to see the future coming; it’s something else entirely to know the timing. On that Perez and I can certainly agree.

Source

Solar-powered aircraft flown for nearly three weeks without landing

Mon, 11 Oct 2021 20:58:05 +0000

Airbus has completed test flights for its solar-powered Zephyr aircraft which is designed to stay airborne for weeks at a time in order to provide internet to users on the ground.

Zephyr has flown six times so far, with four low-level test flights and two stratospheric flights. The stratospheric flights flew for around 18 days each, totalling more than 36 days of continuous flight from only two take-offs.

Airbus ultimately believes that the aircraft could remain airborne for “months at a time” and could provide internet to both commercial and military customers.

Zephyr could also help with disaster management scenarios, including monitoring the spread of wildfires or oil spills, due to its ability to provide persistent, long-term surveillance.

The unmanned glider, which is powered by two small propellers, could ultimately spend around six months continuously in the air and is cheaper and more environmentally friendly than a satellite.

“Credible and proven ultra-persistence, stratospheric agility and payload interoperability underscore why Zephyr is the leader in its sector,” said Jana Rosenmann, head of unmanned aerial systems at Airbus.

“It is a sustainable, solar-powered, ISR and network-extending solution that can provide vital future connectivity and earth observation to where it is needed.”.

Other competing technologies typically revolve around constellations of satellites to provide internet connectivity on the ground, such as SpaceX’s Starlink which currently has around 1,740 satellites in orbit, or OneWeb, in which the UK government purchased a major stake during 2020.

Speaking to the PA news agency, Rosenmann added: “We have ambitions to be going for periods of months, up to six months. Our batteries are really performing extremely well. I think we’re confident right now about [reaching] three months and I would say that going for six months on this air vehicle would not be a problem.

“Have we proved that operationally? No, not yet - but all the steps we have been doing in our lab tests are clearly indicating that we are on a very good path.”

She added: “I think it’s got a huge potential to reach people that traditionally you’re not going to reach with fibre [broadband]. There isn’t really a limit to reaching the unconnected population today, which is a vast community.”

Bae Systems has also been working on designs for autonomous solar-powered aircraft that use the sun’s energy during the day while relying on battery backups at night.

Source

The Epic Store on Linux continues getting easier to manage with Heroic Games Launcher

Mon, 11 Oct 2021 17:48:21 +0000

Heroic Games Launcher has a fresh update released and it comes with some mighty fine new features, all in the name of making your Epic Store library easier to manage on Linux. All still unofficial of course, since the store doesn't support Linux directly.

With HGL version 1.10.1 it can now install parts of games that offer a selective download, you can run games using an "alternative" executable, available DLC will be listed along with a toggle to bring them all or not and you can actually check the download / install size before installing games now.

For Linux (and macOS) the launcher can now use Wine bottles made with CodeWeavers' CrossOver, there's a new option to enable / disable Esync/Fsync along with various tech upgrades behind the scenes and a good few bug fixes too.

Hopefully one day Epic will decide to actually bring their store to Linux, until then Heroic seems to do the job quite nicely. Since the store doesn't support Linux though, all will use either Wine or Proton so the usual caveats apply there with it not being supported by the developer.

Check it out on GitHub.

Source

AMD Publishes New Linux Audio Driver Code For Yellow Carp / ACP6x Audio Co-Processor

Mon, 11 Oct 2021 13:58:36 +0000

It was just with Linux 5.15 last month that AMD added a new audio driver for Van Gogh APUs sporting an ACP 5.x audio co-processor (ACP) while now a new driver has been posted for Yellow Carp / Rembrandt with it introducing new ACP 6.x audio co-processor IP.

AMD engineers have been busy the past few months bringing up "Yellow Carp" under Linux that appears at this point to be the Linux codename for the forthcoming Ryzen 6000 series "Rembrandt" APUs. On top of all the graphics driver work and other Linux kernel driver support patches so far, new audio code came out on Monday morning.

The set of 13 patches get Yellow Carp audio support working on Linux. With YC/Rembrandt there is now AMD Audio Co-Processor 6.x (ACP6x) engine support that needs to be enabled. With some 1,440 lines of new code while some of it is based on audio driver code going back to Renoir there is ACP6x support working with DMIC endpoint support.

Hopefully these patches will get reviewed timely and be in good shape for appearing in the 5.16 kernel to allow time for this audio driver support to work its way out prior to Rembrandt APUs appearing.

Source

USB 4 with eGPU support appears confirmed for next year’s AMD Ryzen 6000 processors

Sun, 10 Oct 2021 22:08:52 +0000

AMD’s processor range has been on the ascent the last few years, but the company has been held back in one area – the company’s AMD Ryzen 5000 processors have not been able to support technology like eGPUs because Thunderbolt 3 was a proprietary Intel technology.

Thankfully standards have moved forward, and the new USB 4 standard folds in support for Thunderbold 3 and there is evidence that AMD’s new Ryzen 6000 processors will be supporting that technology.

A new Linux kernel driver patch submitted by AMD engineers for Penguin OS now includes USB 4 DisplayPort 1.4 tunnelling which, along with DisplayPort 2.0 Alternate Mode, are two mandatory features of USB 4.

The patch is for Yellow Carp, which is reportedly the code name on Linux for the AMD Ryzen 6000 Rembrandt processor which is expected to be launched in early 2022.

It is expected that mobile gamers in particular will benefit from this improvement, leaving laptop buyers with one less reason to choose Intel over AMD.

via NotebookItalia

USB 4 with eGPU support appears confirmed for next year’s AMD Ryzen 6000 processors

Microsoft Weekly: Windows 11 launch edition

Sun, 10 Oct 2021 22:06:31 +0000

With the passage of another week, it’s time to look at all the Microsoft-related news that happened. This week, the news cycle in the Redmond giant’s world was dominated by the release of Windows 11. The next-gen OS from Microsoft began rolling out in a staggered fashion and brought with it a barrage of news and interesting observations. Along with the rollout also came a few app updates, some gaming-related news, and an interesting report from the firm. All this and more in our weekly Microsoft digest for October 3 – October 9.

Windows 11 launch

As promised by the firm, Windows 11 began rolling out to select users starting October 5, depending on the geography. Interestingly though, documentation for the offering’s support lifecycle notes the start date as October 4. As was expected, the release is a staggered, measured one, meaning a small set of eligible users receive the upgrade as an optional package. With time, more users will begin being offered the OS. The firm has also started showing a banner on the Windows Update Settings page notifying users that their PC is compatible. Of course, users can force the upgrade using the Media Creation Tool (MCT) and the like. Additionally, the Redmond company also made Windows 11 available to businesses customers as a Cloud PC in the Windows 365 Enterprise subscription.

However, the OS did release with a few known issues, some that serve to be blocking bugs, meaning that the firm has placed a hold on rolling out the OS to devices that might be affected by the issues. This is why the firm also advises against installing the OS using the Installation Assistant or via the MCT to avoid any problems. However, those that upgraded to Windows 11 and wished to go back to Windows 10 can do so from within the OS itself. Refer to our handy guide that provides a walkthrough of that process.

Not all was well with the rollout, as some users began reporting errors while trying to install the OS, especially when using the Installation Assistant. The most common of them were 0x8007007 and 0x800F0830, which could mostly be fixed using a simple workaround. Users of Windows Mixed Reality were also treated to issues on upgrading to the OS, with some users reporting that setting up the feature before installing was the best way to get it to work.

Some users that successfully installed Windows 11 on systems running AMD processors were also in for a surprise, thanks to an announcement by AMD acknowledging that there might be some performance issues caused by the L3 cache latency. The impact could vary from a drop in performance of anywhere between 3% and 15%. Additionally, another issue affects processors with eight or more cores caused by the inability to schedule threads on a processor’s fastest core. Thankfully, a fix is on its way for both these issues.

While all these impacted those that were available to download the new OS on their systems, Microsoft also posted an official workaround for bypassing the TPM requirements, albeit with a word of caution. There is no telling if unsupported devices will receive security updates in the long run as the company noted that it is doubling down on security. The company also reiterated its case for the TPM 2.0 requirement and VBS, advocating for the technologies and making them the default.

Lastly, Dev channel Windows Insiders got Windows 11 build 22471, which brought a bunch of bug fixes and no new features. These fixes are expected to eventually make it to the production version that was released this week. However, there is no word on when features like Android app support will make it to the offering.

While there wasn’t much in the way of news about Windows 10, the next feature update - version 21H2 – is on the horizon. Though there aren’t any major new features, we have put together a run-down of everything that you should know. Take a look at all that’s new with Windows 10 version 21H2 here.

However, if you are more interested in all that’s new with Windows 11, we have got you covered there are well. You can head to our detailed Windows 11 review here to learn about the new features, misses, and more.

New apps and updates

As is the case every other week, there was news of yet another app receiving a refresh. This time, it’s the good old Notepad app. The app is receiving a new Settings menu and – as expected – rounded corners. The offering joins the list of other classic apps that are being revamped, including the likes of Paint.

While not an app in itself, a new Feedback Portal is in the works that aims to replace Microsoft’s UserVoice. The portal will serve as the hub for gather feedback for the Microsoft 365 suite of apps Teams, and Edge. The portal will also add sections for Windows next year, but it is anybody’s guess if this means that the Feedback Hub will be replaced.

There was some news for Excel users as well, as the firm announced that it is bringing Smooth Scrolling to Excel on Windows – which it has been testing in the Office Insider channels. The firm added that integrating the feature was a challenge and that the ability to should now enhance the experience for those that use the spreadsheet tool extensively. Talking about Insiders, a new Office Insider Beta build fixes an issue with high CPU usage on Excel. The build also adds a few fixes for update problems, among others.

Rounding off the apps section is the weekly update to Edge. This week, the Dev channel build brought a few new features, including support for voice typing on Windows 11, improvements to moving tabs to a different profile, and more. As usual, there were a bunch of bug fixes.

New Xbox Game Pass titles, new limited-edition controllers, more

Headlining the gaming news this week is the list of new Xbox Game Pass titles for the first half of October. The list includes a couple of day-one releases such as Turtle Rock Studio's Back 4 Blood. The PC version of Destiny 2: Beyond Light expansion also makes it to the list, among others. In all, there are eight titles being added and six leaving the subscription. You can check out the full list here.

Along with the Game Pass titles came huge discounts for a bunch of titles via Deals with Gold. This week, there are discounts on games from the Battlefield and Lego franchises, along with a long list of other tiles. Some of the deals, however, are specific to just Xbox Live Gold members.

Additionally, Microsoft confirmed this week that it has completed upgrading all its Xbox Cloud gaming hardware to custom Xbox Series X consoles. The firm also added that it is working on a TV app to build game streaming right into TVs. This likely complements the dedicated streaming hardware that the firm is said to be developing.

Staying on the topic of hardware, the Redmond company announced the 20th-anniversary editions of the Xbox controller and Headset. The special edition peripherals launch on November 15 and can be pre-ordered for $69.99 each. The firm has also partnered with Razer for a limited edition Universal Quick Charging Stand. However, for those looking for expansion cards for their existing Series X consoles, a 512GB version was spotted at an American retailer, hinting at a launch sooner rather than later.

Moving on, we reviewed Alan Wake Remastered on Xbox Series X this week, sharing our thoughts on the story, performance and visuals, music, and lingering issues in the game. You can read through the entire review and our conclusion and share your thoughts in the comments.

Rounding off gaming news is an interesting partnership. Xbox and Rockstar Energy Drink have partnered to offer Halo Infinite-themed collector’s edition cans. The cans also come with a code that can be redeemed for 2XP and entries for a chance to win Halo Infinite, Xbox bundles, a Razer Raptor 27” monitor, a Razer Kaira Pro Halo Infinite headset, the Jeep Gladiator grand prize vehicle and other in-game rewards.

Dev channel:

Microsoft Cloud for Financial Services will be generally available from November 1
Everything you should know about Windows 11 IoT Enterprise that is now out
Microsoft announces the next phase of its plans for a decentralized identity system
Microsoft agrees to expand "right to repair" options following shareholder pressure
Russia poses the greatest cybersecurity threat to governments, says Microsoft

Logging off:

We continue our detailed coverage of Windows 11 with the Closer Look series. This week, we dove deeper into the new, unified Snipping Tool experience that combines the old Snipping Tool and the Snip & Sketch experience from Windows 10. We compare it to the Windows 10 versions and list everything that is good and aspects that can be improved. Take a complete look.

Microsoft Weekly: Windows 11 launch edition

Microsoft has promised to actively look into right to repair

Fri, 08 Oct 2021 02:48:15 +0000

The company has given itself a deadline to go through a study and act on it

Microsoft has agreed to have an independent third-party study the potential impact of it making its devices easier to repair and to make changes based on those findings by the end of 2022, according to Grist and the shareholder advocacy group As You Sow. The agreement was made after As You Sow filed a shareholder resolution asking Microsoft to look into the potential impact that it could make by making it easier for consumers to get their devices repaired. As You Sow has withdrawn its resolution in return for Microsoft conducting the study and making parts and documentation more available to repair shops that aren’t official Microsoft service providers based on the study’s results.

As You Sow calls Microsoft’s commitment “an encouraging step,” but it’s worth keeping in perspective that it is just a step — what Microsoft has actually done today is said that it’ll have a study done and then use it to “guide” its “product design and plans for expanding device repair options,” according to a statement emailed to The Verge by a Microsoft spokesperson. The fact that the company is at least willing to do that is encouraging and is more than other tech giants have done when it comes to right to repair. But without details, it’s hard to say how big of an impact this will have.

It’s also unclear whether the public will end up getting those details or not. According to Grist, Microsoft will have to post a summary of the study by May 2022, but not the actual study itself (citing concerns over trade secrets). With that said, it should be easy to tell if Microsoft is sticking to its word on this — either it’ll become easier to get your Surface Pro or Xbox repaired at a third-party store, or it won’t.

Grist also quotes iFixit’s US policy directory, which brings up Microsoft’s lobbying efforts. According to the US Public Interest Research Group (or US PIRG), Microsoft has been involved in lobbying against right-to-repair laws in Colorado and Washington. If that kind of behavior continues, it would be hard to give Microsoft props for any positive work it does for right to repair.

Despite the caveats, right to repair supporters see this agreement as a good thing. iFixit CEO Kyle Wiens called it a “huge, landmark move” on Twitter and, in an email to The Verge, said that it “wasn’t just talk,” citing the Surface Laptop’s improvements in repairability over the years. PRIG’s right to repair campaign manager also told The Verge that it was “the real deal” and cited it as evidence as Microsoft “changing its tune” about right to repair. If it does end up making significant changes, Microsoft could end up ahead of the curve when it comes to reducing its products’ impact on e-waste and emissions — both President Joe Biden and the FTC have been working to clamp down on companies illegally making it harder for consumers to get their devices repaired.

Microsoft has promised to actively look into right to repair

Ireland’s status as tax haven for tech firms like Google, Facebook, and Apple is ending

Fri, 08 Oct 2021 02:45:45 +0000

The country has signed on to an EU deal that aims to reduce tax avoidance

Ireland said Thursday it would join an international agreement that sets taxes on profits for multinational corporations at a minimum rate of 15 percent. This is a major shift for the country that is the European headquarters for many large US pharmaceutical companies, as well as tech firms, including Google, Apple, and Facebook.

An increase from Ireland’s current 12.5 percent to 15 percent may not seem that large by itself. The so-called Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Inclusive Framework agreement, outlined in July, is actually a two-pillar plan aimed at helping end tax avoidance and making international tax rules fairer and more transparent. The OECD has estimated that a 15 percent tax rate would generate some $150 billion in global tax revenue annually and would help to stabilize the international tax system.

Ireland signed on to the deal ahead of a Friday meeting at the OECD among the 140 countries that have been negotiating its terms for several years. The plan calls for global companies to pay taxes in countries where their products or services are sold, even if they don’t have a physical presence there, and would apply to multinational companies with revenues above €750 million (about $867 million). For companies with revenues below €750 million, the 12.5 percent rate would remain in effect in Ireland.

Over the past several decades, Ireland has served as a tax shelter for many large tech companies, thanks to its low corporate tax rate. Companies typically create Irish subsidiaries of their companies that license their intellectual property, on which the subsidiary pays royalties. Some 800 US companies have operations in Ireland, according to the American Chamber of Commerce Ireland, employing about 180,000 people. Apple opened its first plant in Ireland in 1980 and now employs some 6,000 people on its campus in the city of Cork. Facebook established its international headquarters in Dublin in 2008, and Google opened its European headquarters in Ireland in 2003.

Irish finance minister Paschal Donohoe said in a statement Thursday that the agreement will “address the tax challenges of digitalisation.” Donohoe added that he believes companies will still choose to locate their headquarters in Ireland.

“I am confident that Ireland will remain competitive into the future, and we will remain an attractive location and ‘best in class’ when multi-nationals look to investment locations,” Donohoe said. “These multinational enterprises support our economy with high value jobs, and at the same time, Ireland provides a stable platform and a long proven track record of success for MNEs choosing to invest here.”

If the OECD agreement moves forward, its provisions are expected to take effect in 2023.

Ireland’s status as tax haven for tech firms like Google, Facebook, and Apple is ending

Samsung 3nm-based chip designs coming in the first half of 2022

Thu, 07 Oct 2021 21:53:44 +0000

During 5th Annual Samsung Foundry Forum, Samsung today confirmed that it will start producing its customers’ first 3nm-based chip designs in the first half of 2022. Also, the second generation of 3nm is expected in 2023. For the first time, Samsung revealed the 2nm process node with MBCFET that is expected to enter mass production in 2025.

Samsung’s first 3nm GAA process node with MBCFET will deliver the following:

Up to 35 percent decrease in area.
30 percent higher performance compared to the 5nm process.
50 percent lower power consumption compared to the 5nm process.
In addition to power, performance and area (PPA) improvements, as its process maturity has increased, 3nm’s logic yield is approaching a similar level to the 4nm process, which is currently in mass production.

Source: Samsung

Samsung 3nm-based chip designs coming in the first half of 2022

Intel tries to bash Apple again with a terrible ‘social experiment’ ad

Wed, 06 Oct 2021 05:57:47 +0000

‘I am 100 percent loyal to Apple’

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I regret to inform you that Intel has again made a terrible ad to showcase how absolutely not mad it is about Apple switching to its own processors. This one, called “Breaking the Spell,” follows a classic format — people are put in a room and told about features supposedly coming to MacBooks. Then, after they get all excited, the twist! They were actually being told about Windows computers, powered (of course) by Intel. The folks in the ad (which the fine print says are “real people paid for their time and opinions”) are speechless and then clamor to buy or take the laptops, presumably now that they’ve awoken to the possibilities of the PC.

It’s an ad format that’s never been great, but the real kicker is that it makes absolutely no sense here — in the intro, Intel claims it’s showing off “new technology” and “innovations” and then proceeds to show people absolutely gobsmacked by tech that is old news by almost any standard.

If you’re brave, you can give it a watch below.

I know that when it comes to tech news, there can be somewhat of a bubble, with writers and readers thinking that certain things are more well-known to the general public than they are. But really, if you’ve walked into Best Buy’s laptop section at some point in the past decade, you probably would’ve seen some of the things the people in the ad are shell-shocked by: two-in-one laptops that fold to become a tablet have been popular since the early 2010s, Intel’s been pushing laptops with two screens since 2018, and PC gaming was a thing before the original IBM Personal Computer that popularized the term “PC.”

To be fair, secret rooms are always pretty cool (unless they’re serial killer dungeons, I guess).

Image: Intel

As for Intel’s upgradability argument, I agree. While I understand that Apple building RAM into the same chip as the processor probably has some performance benefit, it does bite that you can’t upgrade — especially when M1 laptops start with a paltry 8GB and carry a $200 charge for the 16GB upgrade. The problem is, though, that there’s a high chance that the Windows laptop this ad inspires you to buy will also have unremovable and non-upgradeable memory. While you can find Windows laptops with swappable RAM or SSDs, nowadays, that’s a notable f eature rather than an expected one.

Perhaps this ad would be at least closer to forgivable if it wasn’t a mashup of another series of ads Intel made featuring “I’m a Mac” actor Justin Long (which people hated) and those Chevy truck commercials (which people also hated).

The like to dislike ratio for Intel’s new ad. Lots of people still spellbound, I guess.

The ratio for Intel’s “Justin Gets Real: Having Choices” ad.

Wait, actually, yes, it would still suck — because Intel’s bragging about things you can find in laptops with chips from its other competitor, AMD. There are 2-in-1s rocking Ryzen chips, and our top gaming laptop for 2021 has both an AMD CPU and a slot to add more RAM. “But what about dual-screen laptops with AMD,” asked probably no one because it’s a niche product category. Asus has you covered.

I don’t want this criticism to come off as being done by a butthurt Apple fan who’s, as one person in the ad put it, “100 percent loyal to Apple.” (Who talks like that?) While I mostly use Apple products, I’m also an unabashed old ThinkPad lover who thinks Intel has a point — if you can look past how condescending and embarrassing this ad campaign is. I do wish Apple gave people more choice and more upgradability with its computers, and I think people should be more willing to give other computing platforms a shot if they fit their needs better. But does an ad full of people acting like they’ve never seen a computer convince anyone of that?

Intel tries to bash Apple again with a terrible ‘social experiment’ ad

D-Wave announces new hardware, compiler, and plans for quantum computing

Wed, 06 Oct 2021 05:53:05 +0000

In addition to its standard roadmap, D-Wave will try building gate-based systems.

The current generation of hardware.

D-Wave

Tracking quantum computing has been a bit confusing in that there are multiple approaches to it. Most of the effort goes toward what are called gate-based computers, which allow you to perform logical operations on individual qubits. These are well understood theoretically and can perform a variety of calculations. But it's possible to make gate-based systems out of a variety of qubits, including photons, ions, and electronic devices called transmons, and companies have grown up around each of these hardware options.

But there's a separate form of computing called quantum annealing that also involves manipulating collections of interconnected qubits. Annealing hasn't been as worked out in theory, but it appears to be well matched to a class of optimization problems. And, when it comes to annealing hardware, there's only a single company called D-Wave.

Now, things are about to get more confusing still. On Tuesday, D-Wave released its roadmap for upcoming processors and software for its quantum annealers. But D-Wave is also announcing that it's going to be developing its own gate-based hardware, which it will offer in parallel with the quantum annealer. We talked with company CEO Alan Baratz to understand all the announcements.

Annealing hardware

The simplest part of the announcement to understand is what's happening with D-Wave's quantum-annealing processor. The current processor, called Advantage, has 5,000 qubits and 40,000 connections among them. These connections play a major role in the chip's performance as, if a direct connection between two qubits can't be established, others have to be used to act as a bridge, resulting in a lower effective qubit count.

Starting this week, users of D-Wave's cloud service will have access to an updated version of Advantage. The qubit and connection stats will remain the same, but the device will be less influenced by noise in the system (in technical terms, its qubits will maintain their coherence longer). "This performance update will allow us to solve larger problems with greater precision and a higher probability of correctness due to some new fabrication processes that we are using," Baratz told Ars. He said the improvements came about through changes to the qubit fabrication process and the materials used to create them.

The influence of noise in a quantum optimizer doesn't necessarily mean it will produce a "wrong" result. Typically, for optimization problems, it means the machine won't find the most optimal solution but will find something close to it. So the reduced noise in the new processor means that the machine is more likely to find something closer to the absolute optimum.

Further out in the future is the follow-on system, Advantage 2, which is expected late next year or the year after. This will see another boost to the qubit count, going up to somewhere above 7,000. But the connectivity would go up considerably as well, with D-Wave targeting 20 connections per qubit. "Now that we've crossed a certain threshold on the number of qubits, it seems to be connectivity that will give us the bigger boost," Baratz told Ars.

Further from the hardware

D-Wave provides a set of developer tools it calls Ocean. In previous iterations, Ocean has allowed people to step back from directly controlling the hardware; instead, if a problem could be expressed as a quadratic unconstrained binary optimization (QUBO), Ocean could produce the commands needed to handle all the hardware configuration and run the problem on the optimizer. D-Wave referred to this as a hybrid problem solver, since Ocean would use classical computing to optimize the QUBO prior to execution.

The only problem is that not everyone who might be interested in trying D-Wave hardware knows how to express their problem as a QUBO. So, the new version of Ocean will allow an additional layer of abstraction by allowing problems to be sent to the system in the format typically used by people who tend to solve these sorts of problems. "You will now be able to specify problems in the language that data scientists and data analysts understand," Baratz promised.

If that does work out, then this might eliminate a major roadblock that could keep people from testing whether D-Wave's hardware offers a speed-up on their problems.

AND gates

The biggest part of today's announcement, however, may be that D-Wave intends to also build gate-based hardware. Baratz explained that he thinks that optimization is likely to remain a valid approach, pointing to a draft publication that shows that structuring some optimization problems for gate-based hardware may be so computationally expensive that it would offset any gains the quantum hardware could provide. But it's also clear that gate-based hardware can solve an array of problems that a quantum annealer can't.

He also argued that D-Wave has solved a number of problems that are currently limiting advances in gate-based hardware that uses electronic qubits called transmons. These include the amount and size of the hardware that's needed to send control signals to the qubits and the ability to pack qubits in densely enough so that they're easy to connect but not close enough that they start to interfere with each other.

One of the problems D-Wave faces, however, is that the qubits it uses for its annealer aren't useful for gate-based systems. While they're based on the same bit of hardware (the Josephson junction), the annealer's qubits can only be set as up or down. A gate-based qubit needs to allow manipulations in three dimensions. So, the company is going to try building flux qubits, which also rely on Josephson junctions but use them in a different way. So, at least some of the company's engineering expertise should still apply.

Will the rest? There's no way to find out without building hardware, and Baratz said that the first test qubits were just being chilled to operating temperatures when we spoke. He was also conservative about what the qubit count would look like once the hardware would be ready for public use, saying "until we build and measure, I'm not going to guess."

D-Wave announces new hardware, compiler, and plans for quantum computing

Apple commemorates Steve Jobs on his 10th death anniversary with a short film

Tue, 05 Oct 2021 23:46:04 +0000

Celebrating Steve.

This is what Apple's website says today. The company has released a film that narrates quotes from the late Apple co-founder and CEO. The film starts with Jobs saying:

"When you grow up, you tend to get told the world is the way it is and your life is just to live your life inside the world, but

Life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact and that is, everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you. And you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use."

The film then showcases photos of Steve starting from his youth and during Apple's inception. With melancholic piano music in the background, the film then shows various video clips of him on stage with him wearing his well-known attire - a black mock turtleneck, blue jeans, and sneakers, while unveiling products like the iPod and the iPhone.

The website also posted a note from Jobs' family:

For a decade now, mourning and healing have gone together.
Our gratitude has become as great as our loss.

Each of us has found his or her own path to consolation,
but we have come together in a beautiful place of love
for Steve, and for what he taught us.

For all of Steve’s gifts, it was his power as a teacher that has endured.
He taught us to be open to the beauty of the world, to be curious around
new ideas, to see around the next corner, and most of all to stay
humble in our own beginner’s mind.

There are many things we still see through his eyes, but he also
taught to look for ourselves. He gave us equipment for living,
and it has served us well.

One of our greatest sources of consolation has been our association
of Steve with beauty. The sight of something beautiful — a wooded hillside,
a well‑made object — recalls his spirit to us. Even in his years of suffering,
he never lost his faith in the beauty of existence.

Memory is inadequate for what is in our hearts: we miss him profoundly.
We were blessed to have him as husband and father.

Steve Jobs died on October 5, 2011, due to pancreatic cancer. He co-founded Apple and launched revolutionary products like the iPhone, iPad, and Mac OS X during his tenure launching Apple to a trajectory of success, with more than a trillion-dollar valuation, a decade later.

Apple commemorates Steve Jobs on his 10th death anniversary with a short film

Bugvasion is a quirky comedy Tower Defense game out now for Linux

Tue, 05 Oct 2021 13:39:50 +0000

Aliens have come to the Earth but they’re tiny so they’ve brainwashed various bugs to invade your home, so it’s time to step up and build some towers. Note: the developer sent over a key.

This is the first game from developer Full Screen Games that originally released back in February, however they’ve ported it to Linux just recently with it releasing a native build back in late September.

The developer mentioned they went for the welcoming cartoon-like style of early Micro Machines with the Tower Defense genre to give a rather unique look in the genre. Similar to a lot of other TD games mechanically with you facing waves from a few different locations in each level. This is not a game to just sit back and relax while your towers do the work though, as some of them require manual interaction to keep working. There’s a poison sprayer for example which gradually runs out, so you need to keep an eye on it to reload it.

In between missions you also get to unlock new towers, upgrade towers to be stronger and also unlock various special abilities. You start off with two of these abilities that enable you to do things like squish bugs with your fist or shoes, with you also being able to supercharge your abilities to get more out of them.

Each level also has a special environmental feature too. Since each is set in a small part of your home, these little bugs are running through and you get a few household items to use against them like glue to slow them or what looks like a Pez launcher to block them. It’s thoroughly quirky and that’s why I liked it.

Not particularly long or challenging but good overall. You can buy it on Steam.

Source

Researchers Have Developed a New Kind of 'Unbreakable' Glass

Tue, 05 Oct 2021 13:06:51 +0000

It's three times stronger than conventional glass, with five times the fracture resistance.

Researchers at McGill University have developed the strongest and toughest glass ever known. Inspired, in part, by the inner layer of mollusk shells, this glass does not shatter when hit, and acts more like plastic.

The material, once commercially viable, could be used to improve cell phone screens, among other applications in the future.

Interestingly, this may be an example of modern science rediscovering an old technology, now long lost.

Apparently, a form of flexible glass existed during the reign of the Roman Emperor Tiberius Caesar. So the story goes, as told by Petronius, a glassmaker brought a drinking bowl made of the material before the Emperor.

According to historical accounts, when the bowl was tested for its strength, it dented rather than shattered. What's more, the inventor swore he was the only person who knew how this miracle was achieved.

Tiberius had the man executed, fearing that the glass would devalue gold and silver because it might be more valuable.

“When I think about the story of Tiberius, I’m glad that our material innovation leads to publication rather than execution,” says Allen Ehrlicher, an Associate Professor in the Department of Bioengineering at McGill University.

Making glass stronger through copying nature

Currently, the only way to make glass stronger is to temper or laminate it. While this can reinforce the glass, the process(es) are costly and do not provide any additional structural strength once damaged.

“Until now there were trade-offs between high strength, toughness, and transparency. Our new material is not only three times stronger than the normal glass, but also more than five times more fracture-resistant,” says Ehrlicher.

The inspiration for this new type of glass came from nature - namely nacre or "mother of pearl". To the end, scientists at McGill managed to develop the new glass and acrylic composite.

“Nature is a master of design. Studying the structure of biological materials and understanding how they work offers inspiration, and sometimes blueprints, for new materials,” explains Ehrlicher.

Nacre is an excellent choice for inspiration, as it is a very tough material in its own right.

“Amazingly, nacre has the rigidity of a stiff material and durability of a soft material, giving it the best of both worlds,” Ehrlicher continues.

“It’s made of stiff pieces of chalk-like matter that are layered with soft proteins that are highly elastic. This structure produces exceptional strength, making it 3000 times tougher than the materials that compose it,” he adds.

By closely examining the architecture of nacre, researchers were able to replicate it in glass using glass flakes and acrylic. This structure yielded an extremely strong, yet opaque, material that can, in theory, be produced en masse cheaply and quickly.

To make the tough glass a true replacement for more conventional glass, the material needed to be made transparent, or at least translucent.

"By tuning the refractive index of the acrylic, we made it seamlessly blend with the glass to make a truly transparent composite,” says lead author Ali Amini, a Postdoctoral Researcher at McGill. Going forward, the team hopes to improve the tough glass by incorporating smart technology allowing the glass to change its properties, such as color, mechanics, and conductivity.

Source

Report: Microsoft and AMD are collaborating on a powerful ARM processor for Windows PCs

Mon, 04 Oct 2021 23:17:22 +0000

Microsoft and AMD already have a strong relationship with collaborations spanning multiple product lineup including Azure, Surface, Windows and Xbox. Tech Enthusiast Tron recently revealed that Microsoft and AMD working together on a powerful ARM processor that will power Windows devices including Surface.

The performance of this upcoming ARM chip will be lower than NVIDIA GTX 1050 class but will be much better than the current Qualcomm processors. This upcoming SoC will also have Samsung Exynos 5G modem for seamless connectivity. According to the report, this upcoming Cortex X1-based SoC will be manufactured by TSMC using 5nm process.

Source: Tron

Report: Microsoft and AMD are collaborating on a powerful ARM processor for Windows PCs

New USB-C logos make picking USB cables, chargers less confusing

Mon, 04 Oct 2021 14:16:13 +0000

Just look for these USB-C power rating logos to ease your shopping headaches.

Choosing the correct USB-C charger and cable for you laptop is about as fun as visiting the dentist, but new logos released today should go a long way toward making things easier.

The USB Implementers Forum group that oversees the USB standard has released logos that easily indicate whether a cable or charger can hit the new 240 watt rating. Previous USB-C chargers and cables were rated to hit 65 watts or 100 watts but a new version of USB Power Delivery released this May has pushed the limit to an impressive 240 watts.

Obviously, that means if you’re looking for a 240 watt aftermarket charger for a new gaming laptop that supports it, you don’t want to settle for a lesser product. With the new USB-C logos, all you have to do is look for a Certified USB Charger 240W logo with a lightning bolt like the one from the chart above.

The other component you may need is a 240 watt USB-C cable, so consumers need only look for Certified USB Charger 240W with a cable in its logo. Both logos also can also be paired with USB 40Gbps bits to indicate if the cable is certified to support USB4’s 40Gbps speed.

The higher output 240 watt power range is a welcome addition to USB-C as it should allow laptop makers to bring universal USB-C charging to far more powerful laptops, including gaming laptops with discrete graphics chips—something that was out of reach for previous USB-C chargers, cables, and ports. In fact, we found that we probably wouldn’t want to use a small USB-C charger in a gaming laptop with today’s technology. But with 240 watt USB-C charger, we’d probably change our mind.

The problem, of course, is that the USB-IF is an organization that certifies cables, chargers, and other USB-C products, but it can’t really enforce anything. This has lead to small-brand and no-name manufacturers getting the spec wrong in the past. The good news is the cables from companies that actually obtain certifications correctly should work correctly. So we recommend that you look for these logos as you shop for the new higher-output cables and chargers.

If you don’t need these higher output options, you can hit up our roundup of the best USB-C cables, where we put 14 different options to the test in both charging and data transfers. If you want to do your own shopping on Amazon instead, we also have an explainer on how to choose a USB-C cable without losing your mind.

Newer 240 watt USB-C chargers and cables will allow many gaming laptops to finally ditch the funky barrel DC in plug.
Gordon Mah Ung

Note: When you purchase something after clicking links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. Read our affiliate link policy for more details.

Source

DeepMind AI predicts incoming rainfall with high accuracy

Mon, 04 Oct 2021 14:10:28 +0000

Having flexed its muscles in predicting kidney injury, toppling Go champions and solving 50-year-old science problems, artificial intelligence company DeepMind is now dipping its toes in weather forecasting. The company's latest tool is designed to predict oncoming precipitation through what's known as nowcasting, and the vast majority of meteorologists found it to be more accurate than current methods in early testing.

The science of precipitation nowcasting focuses on predicting rain within the next one to two hours, and is of real importance in areas such as outdoor events, aviation and emergency planning. DeepMind set out to develop a machine-learning tool that can bring a new level of precision to these efforts, by making use of high-precision radar data that tracks precipitation every five minutes at a 1-km (0.62-mile) resolution.

DeepMind has developed a new AI system to predict incoming rain DeepMind

It did so by using a generative modeling approach, which analyzes the past 20 minutes of observed radar and then makes predictions for the upcoming 90 minutes. The tool focuses on medium to heavy rain events, which have the greatest impact on people and the economy, and the team found it offered significant performance gains over current methods.

A heavy precipitation event in April 2019 over the eastern US, comparing the observed radar (Target) with DeepMind's DGMR and current approaches DeepMind

This testing involved assessments with more than 50 trained meteorologists from the UK Met Office. DeepMind's Deep Generative Model of Rain tool was rated as the superior option in 89 percent of cases compared to current widely-used nowcasting methods. DeepMind now plans to build on these results by improving the accuracy on both longer-term predictions and on rare and intense rain events.

A paper describing the research was published in the journal Nature.

Source: DeepMind

Source

Microsoft Weekly: Windows 11 nears launch, Office 2021 prices out, Cloud Gaming expands

Sun, 03 Oct 2021 23:40:52 +0000

Another week has passed, which means it’s time again to look at all the news in the world of Microsoft. This time, we are putting together the weekly digest for the week of September 26 – October 2. As usual, there were new builds for both Windows 10 and Windows 11, with the former including a C/D week optional preview release. The week also brought news of a possible security vulnerability in Azure AD, which the Redmond firm provided clarification on. As for gaming, Cloud Gaming headed to select console users. All this and much more are in our complete digest below.

Windows 11 updates, new stores in the Microsoft Store, more

As is customary every week, Microsoft released a new Windows 11 build for Dev channel users. Build 22468 got a bunch of fixes, but nothing new in the way of features. There were no Beta or Release Preview updates, but that is not surprising as the official launch of Windows 11 is just a few days away, which the firm is likely prepping for. Though Windows 11 is only available for Insiders, an AdDuplex report suggested that around 1.3% of Windows users are already running the latest OS, which is an interesting stat.

While Windows Insiders and readers of Neowin are mighty aware of the new OS and the changes coming, a recent sample survey in the U.S. found that a majority of PC users were unaware of Windows 11. What’s more? Another survey of professional PCs suggests that a large number of devices lack the required system specifications needed to upgrade to the new OS. While the sample size might be small, it does pose an interesting point as Microsoft nears its October 5 rollout. For those wanting to take chances, there is an unofficial tool that helps users bypass TPM requirements to install Windows 11.

Another interesting announcement was that of the impending launch of the Epic Games Store within the Microsoft Store. The announcement is in line with the company’s promise of expanding the types of apps and offerings that are made available in the Microsoft Store. While the blog also mentioned that Amazon will be bringing its storefront, there is no timeline on when Amazon’s Appstore will make it to the OS via the Microsoft Store, eventually bringing support for Android apps. Browsers such as Opera and Yandex are also becoming available in the store.

Moving on, Windows 10 also received an update, albeit an optional one. The three latest Windows 10 versions received preview updates that are optional. These preview patches will eventually be included in next week’s Patch Tuesday updates and installed as part of that update for those who did not choose into installing the optional patch.

Office 2021 pricing, Microsoft 365 updates, and Outlook issues

In keeping with past trends, Microsoft listed all the new features and updates coming to its Microsoft 365 suite of apps and services. The features include the ability for the desktop versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint to co-author encrypted documents, new languages for the live captioning and transcription features in Teams, and a bunch of updates aimed at IT admins. Visio on the web is also receiving a few improvements relating to the color palette for objects.

The upcoming version of the firm’s productivity suite, Office 2021, finally received a price tag. The one-time purchase offering starts at $149.99. The suite is focused on providing an experience tailored to Windows 11 and brings visual enhancements. Another change is that the list of apps will no longer include Skype, which is being replaced with Teams. Interestingly, the Skype team announced a major refresh for the service, casting ambiguity over the positioning of the product in the Microsoft ecosystem.

This week, Outlook account users that rely on third-party email clients were facing issues with Outlook’s IMAP service, which the firm acknowledged and provided a workaround for. The only way out is to temporarily set the email protocol to Exchange – which might not be an option for all users. The firm does note that it is working on a fix.

Moving to updates, the new Paint app began rolling out to Dev channel Insiders, bringing a fresh new UI for the legacy app. Another offering that might be on its way is a new Media Player experience for Windows 11, something that was spotted during the Insider Webcast. Edge users in the Dev channel were also treated to the first Edge 96 build that brought a few new features for iOS users, the rollout of the ability to send tabs across devices – even on mobile, and more. The company’s PowerToys set of tools was updated to version 0.47 with Shortcut Guide and stability improvements.

Those that aren’t familiar with the new Clock app in Windows 11 can head to our Closer Look piece that details all the new features in the Clock app. These include the new Focus Session capability that helps keep track of productivity and breaks. While you are at it, you can also read through the complete walkthrough of the Teams integration in Windows 11.

Lastly, Windows 11 users – and potential users – might be happy to know that Google is testing Windows 11-styled menus for Chrome in the Canary channel. It might not be surprising to see the changes make it to the OS a few weeks after the official launch.

Xbox Cloud Gaming expansion, Halo Infinite beta, and more

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers that have been waiting to try out Cloud Gaming in countries such as Australia, Brazil, Japan, and Mexico can do so now, as the ability to stream games from the cloud has been enabled in those regions. This brings the total number of markets where the service is supported to 26. Select Xbox Insiders have also begun receiving the Cloud Gaming feature on consoles, which will bring improvements to those running newer games on older Xbox hardware. However, for those that own Xbox Series X|S consoles, the Dolby Vision High Dynamic Range (HDR) standard is now live, enhancing visuals for over 100 games (existing and coming soon) on compatible displays.

Moving on, Microsoft announced the Games with Gold titles for the month of October, bringing four bonus games for Xbox Live Gold and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members in two waves containing two games each. The four games include Aaero, Hover, Castlevania: Harmony of Despair, and Resident Evil Code: Veronica X. You can head to the article for the dates and more information. Additionally, Deals with Gold also brought discounts to games from the Metal Gear Solid and Yakuza franchises, among others.

This week, Marvel's Avengers headed to Xbox Game Pass, gracing PC, console, and cloud platforms. Gamers will also be able to quadruple their XP from September 30 through October 4 thanks to the anniversary celebrations. Forza Horizon 5's PC system requirements were also announced at the Tokyo Game show this week, bringing surprisingly tame hardware recommendations in comparison to today’s popular titles. Additionally, the PC version of the title supports ultrawide displays, uncapped frame rates, HDR, haptic feedback on Xbox Wireless Controllers, and much more.

Rounding off the gaming coverage, Halo Infinite’s second beta weekend arrived with no caps on who can join the beta from consoles. For those curious, PVP matchmaking that started on October 1 offered Big Team Battle as one of the flavors for the first time. While PVP sessions were only open during specific times, Academy, training with bots, and customization options are available through the flight's end on Monday. Users can look through the known issues thread for the flight here.

As a bonus, you can give our Diablo II: Resurrected review a read to gather our thoughts on the remastered version of Diablo II and its expansion, Lord of Destruction.

Dev channel

Xbox Game Pass might have a 30 million-strong subscriber base says Take Two boss
Microsoft says Azure AD flaw enabling single-factor brute-force attacks is not an issue
The first Visual Studio 2022 for Mac public preview is now live
The Extensions button in Edge Canary is getting a nifty new improvement

Logging off

With Windows 11 just a few more days away from launch, interest in the upcoming OS might be at its peak. If you have not been keeping tabs, we got you covered with everything that you need to know about the OS. This rundown of the features and requirements supplements our Closer Look series, and you can also head to our guide on how you can get your hands on Windows 11 today.

Microsoft Weekly: Windows 11 nears launch, Office 2021 prices out, Cloud Gaming expands

'Game-changing' software lets firefighters pinpoint equipment locations in dire situations

Sun, 03 Oct 2021 14:32:45 +0000

Andy Bozzo, a fire captain with Contra Costa Fire Protection District, was surrounded by flames as he and his unit battled the Caldor Fire from the small El Dorado County town of Meyers.

“Spot fires were dropping in hourly as we were defending that area,” he said. “We needed to know where our units were, but we had zero cell service, even though this was a neighborhood 10 minutes away from a Raley’s and Safeway, because the cell towers had burned down.”

But thanks to iPad software that Bozzo and Will Pigeon, a Contra Costa assistant fire chief, had developed, they were able to see a bird’s-eye view of their engines overlaid on an updated fire incident map.

Tablet Command uses live vehicle GPS tracking to monitor where fire equipment is at all times. In Bozzo’s words, it shows “real-time tactical placement of apparatus referenced against maps showing a fire’s latest progression, along with other data on hot spots and infrared views.”

Or put more informally, it’s like seeing a game of Risk come to life.

Amid the chaos and confusion of a fire, especially a wildfire, it’s hard for firefighting leaders to keep track of where all their trucks and people are.

“When all hell is breaking loose, that creates a communication fog and visualization fog,” Bozzo said. Tablet Command helps “to clear the fog and have a clear view of what you’re approaching. You can see vital information to take action and make decisions.”

The idea came to Bozzo in 2009 while he was playing “Words With Friends” on an iPhone 2 and realized that similar technology could track fire engines’ locations. He reached out to his friend and fellow firefighter Pigeon, who has a computer programming background, and the two launched the company Tablet Command, based in San Rafael.

To date, Tablet Command has raised $2.1 million, modest by Silicon Valley standards. It has annual sales of $1.6 million, projected to grow 60% annually. More than 125 fire departments across the U.S. and Canada use it, including multiple agencies in the counties of San Francisco, Marin, Contra Costa, San Mateo and Sonoma, the company said. CalFire units in San Diego County and San Bernardino County deploy it as well.

Customers generally have an iPad mounted in their fire engine’s shotgun seat where the captain sits, as well as an iPad for battalion chiefs and other leaders. The sofware also runs on a web browser and phones. Pricing comes to about $500 a year per iPad, so a small department might pay about $6,000 a year, while a large agency could have a six-figure annual subscription. Phone licenses are about $10 per user.

Bozzo is still an active-duty firefighter while Pigeon recently retired to devote himself to the company. Their extensive on-the-ground experience means they grok “real-world problems fire captains encounter on a day-to-day basis,” Pigeon said.

Wildfires have changed in recent years, becoming intense, long-lasting and far-reaching conflagrations fueled by extreme drought and climate change, but often the tools to fight them are often decades old. Experts say “situational awareness” — understanding what’s going on around you — is a key weapon for firefighters. That’s where Tablet Command comes in.

“It gets us out the door faster, giving the firefighters a heads up to what we’re going to, giving a visual overview of what that property or area looks like,” Bozzo said. “It enhances our safety: like going into battle and knowing how the enemy is dressed, how they’re armed and positioned ahead of time before engaging.”

The 2018 Carr Fire near Redding spawned its own fire tornado — a terrifying and rare phenomenon in which a vortex of rising and spinning hot gases, smoke and flame reached some 17,000 feet above Earth, traveling at an estimated speed of about 143 mph.

As Pigeon tells it, a Marin County fire engine got separated from a multi-unit strike team, turned around and went down the wrong road just as the tornado started to kick in. As the sky went to almost complete black and visibility dropped, they radioed their battalion chief, saying they didn’t know how they’d get out.

As some of the Marin firefighters tell it on an online video, “We were in an area that was non-survivable.”

“The battalion chief got a lump in his stomach,” Pigeon said. “He opened up Tablet Command and was able to see their location on a (fire) map — and could see there was a safety zone ahead of them (an area where the fire was not burning so they would not have to deploy their fire shelters). He said, ‘Continue on down 1.5 miles down Keswick Dam Road, and you will make it to a parking lot where you will be safe.’ They made it down to the safety zone, a parking lot by a dam, and hiked down to the water.

“If the battalion chief hadn’t been able to recognize where they were and talk them to their safety zone, there could have been a huge difference in the outcome — possibly four funerals.”

Jason Martin, battalion chief for the Menlo Park Fire Department, who had recently returned from fighting the Caldor Fire, said Tablet Command has proved invaluable.

“I can give people assignments based on the incident command tracking system, as well as marking things like a dangerous tree or split in a dirt road and making notes about them,” he said.

When multiple agencies battle a fire — as is the case with all of California’s large wildfires — Tablet Command lets him monitor where other companies are deploying equipment (if they are also using the software).

“I can see every San Mateo County fire unit, even if it’s on the other side of the fire,” Martin said. “It’s an amazing tool and is especially beneficial in wildland fires. It’s been a game changer.”

Source

Steam Next Fest demo event is back with hundreds of upcoming games to try out

Fri, 01 Oct 2021 23:42:47 +0000

Valve has been continually hosting Steam events where indie developers can show off their upcoming wares to the massive audience using the PC storefront, akin to an old-school in-person trade show. Dubbed Steam Next Fest, the demo festival has now returned for another round of showcases.

The latest run of Steam Next Fest will keep its doors open for a week. Its hub area can be seen here, which brings together handy genre and sub-genre selection tabs for the hundreds of games with demos available for better discoverability.

There are also "Trending" and "Most Wishlisted Upcoming Games" lists available at the bottom of the genre pages to quickly find popular games without having to browsing too much.

Among the demos, the latest project of Hello Games, The Last Campfire, is also present with a slice of its experience. Other interesting looking demos include MythBusters: The Game, Robin Hood - Sherwood Builders, Starship Troopers - Terran Command, ANNO: Mutationem, Tunic, and many others.

Livestreams from developers will continuously run while the event is active, which is slated to close at 10AM PT on October 7.

Steam Next Fest demo event is back with hundreds of upcoming games to try out