Prediction articles:
2020: A consumer electronics forecast for the year(s) ahead
AI Chips: What Will 2020 Bring?
CEO Outlook: 2020 Vision: 5G, China and AI are prominent, but big changes are coming everywhere
Top 10 Tech Failures From 2019 That Hint At 2020 Trends – Last year’s tech failures often turn into next year’s leading trends
Trends:
AMD’s 7nm Ryzen 4000 CPUs are here to take on Intel’s 10nm Ice Lake laptop chips
Top 9 challenges IT leaders will face in 2020: From skills shortages to privacy concerns
From the oil rig to the lake: a shift in perspective on data
In December 2020, the new IEC/EN 62368-1 will replace the existing safety standards EN 60950-1 and EN 60065-1
Use of technology money outside company IT department is the new normal
Tech to try:
12 Alternative Operating Systems You Can Use In 2020
CONTINUOUS INTEGRATION: WHAT IT IS AND WHY YOU NEED IT
Research:
Universal memory coming? New type of non-volatile general purpose memory on research, some call it UltraRAM.
1,318 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
China Faces Covid-19, Trade War & ‘Decoupling’ from Others
https://www.eetimes.com/china-faces-covid-19-trade-war-decoupling-from-others/
China is preparing for the worst case scenario: “decoupling” of its technology development from other regions.
The crisis in the global semiconductor industry that started with the U.S.-China trade war has not abated. The economic impact of the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic is making a soft year for the semiconductor industry even worse.
At the same time, China sees an opportunity to bolster its chip-making capability as re-emerges from the coronavirus quarantine
Globally, the economy is facing a rough year. On June 24, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) released a new issue of the “World Economic Outlook Report.” The IMF predicts the global economy will shrink by 4.9% this year. The negative impact of Covid-19 on economic activities in the first half of 2020 was worse than expected, and a recovery will take longer than predicted.
Wei Shaojun, director, Institute of Microelectronics, Tsinghua University, acknowledged that in May that the IMF’s May predication – that the economy would decline 3.5% — would reach 4.9% by June. It is still difficult to predict whether the recession will push it down further.
The most direct impact of the Covid-19 pandemic is the reduction in end-consumer demand. In the U.S., for example, the epidemic has caused the unemployment rate to soar, which in turn has led to a decline in consumer’s purchasing power for electronics products and stagnated IC shipments.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.anandtech.com/show/15899/intel-marks-gemini-lake-atom-platform-for-endoflife
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.anandtech.com/show/15877/intel-hybrid-cpu-lakefield-all-you-need-to-know
For the past eighteen months, Intel has paraded its new ‘Lakefield’ processor design around the press and the public as a paragon of new processor innovation. Inside, Intel pairs one of its fast peak performance cores with four of its lower power efficient cores, and uses novel technology in order to build the processor in the smallest footprint it can. The new Lakefield design is a sign that Intel is looking into new processor paradigms, such as hybrid processors with different types of cores, but also different stacking and packaging technologies to help drive the next wave of computing. With this article, we will tell you all you need to know about Lakefield.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Chiplet Uptake Creates Demand for Best Practices
https://www.eetimes.com/chiplet-uptake-creates-demand-for-best-practices/
Chiplets are a great example of a solution that’s been around for a while but is quickly finding more problems to solve.
With Moore’s Law now 55 years old and pace of semiconductor manufacturing advancement decelerating, chiplets offer an approach to semiconductor design and integration that hold the promise of speeding up things up again. Recent research released by Omdia forecasts the global market for processor microchips that use chiplets in their manufacturing process to hit $5.8 billion in 2024, a significant jump from $645 million in 2018.
Tom Hackenberg, Omdia’s principal analyst for embedded processors, said chiplets will enable the semiconductor business to return to the customary rate of progress initial set my Moore’s Law by effectively bypassing it. Chiplets replace a single silicon die with multiple smaller dies that work together in a unified packaged solution, which provides much more silicon to add transistors compared to a monolithic microchip. He said this would enable a return to the two-year doubling cycle that has been the economic foundation of the semiconductor business since 1965.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google Scrapped Cloud Initiative in China, Other Markets
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-08/google-scrapped-cloud-initiative-in-china-sensitive-markets
Google abandoned plans to offer a major new cloud service in China and
other politically sensitive countries due in part to concerns over
geopolitical tensions and the pandemic, according to two employees
familiar with the matter, revealing the challenges for U.S. tech
giants to secure business in those markets.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Miten teknologiajätit tekevät rahansa – 2020 päivitetty versio. Microsoftin kohdalla eniten rahaa tuotti Azure-pilvipalvelu, sitten Office ja vasta kolmantena Windows. Facebookin kohdalla 98,5 % rahasta tuli mainoksista. Applen rahoista yli puolet iPhone-myynnistä. Amazonin kohdalla myös myynti yli puolet. Alphabet eli Googlen emoyhtiö sai suurimman rahoistaan mainoksilla.
How Big Tech Makes Their Billions
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/how-big-tech-makes-their-billions-2020/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Analog Devices Near Deal to Buy Maxim for $17 Billion
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-13/analog-devices-is-said-near-deal-to-buy-maxim-for-17-billion
Acquisitions are starting to return after a lull of several months caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Analog Devices is currently less than half the size of market leader Texas Instruments Inc. by revenue. While Maxim wouldn’t allow it to close the gap totally, it would broaden the range of products in the analog portfolio, something that Texas Instruments has touted as helping to cement its dominance.
All three companies specialize in analog and embedded computing components. Once a sleepy backwater of the industry, this segment has enjoyed a resurgence as the list of uses and customers has grown in recent years. Analog chips convert real-world things like sound and pressure into electronic signals, and the rush to add automation to factory equipment and buildings and to move cars toward a world where they won’t need human drivers has stirred new demand.
It’s also a very profitable area of the chip industry. Analog Devices and Maxim have gross margins, or the percentage of sales remaining after deducting the cost of goods sold, in the region of 65%.
Since 2015, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index has tripled in value.
chip companies have been increasingly consolidating to help them lower costs and serve customers that have done the same. Their earnings have become more predictable and their cash generation has provided them with war chests and the ability to carry debt they couldn’t have sustained in the past.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://semiengineering.com/week-in-review-manufacturing-test-104/
After years of falling demand, the PC market is back. The second quarter of 2020 ended well for the traditional PC market, including desktops, notebooks, and workstations. Global PC shipments jumped 11.2% year-over-year reaching a total of 72.3 million units, according to IDC.
As restrictions around the world tightened in the first few weeks of the quarter, demand for notebooks continued to grow to maintain continuity of business and schooling for many communities. “The strong demand driven by work-from-home as well as e-learning needs has surpassed previous expectations and has once again put the PC at the center of consumers’ tech portfolio,” said Jitesh Ubrani research manager for IDC. “What remains to be seen is if this demand and high level of usage continues during a recession and into the post-COVID world since budgets are shrinking while schools and workplaces reopen.”
Gartner had a slightly different figure. Worldwide PC shipments totaled 64.8 million units in the second quarter of 2020, a 2.8% increase from the second quarter of 2019, according to Gartner.
Traditional PC Shipments Continue to Grow Amid Global Economic Slowdown, According to IDC
https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS46691020
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://semiengineering.com/building-fugaku-the-worlds-fastest-supercomputer/
Tomi Engdahl says:
If transistors can’t get smaller, then coders have to get smarter
http://news.mit.edu/2020/mit-csail-computing-technology-after-moores-law-0605
MIT CSAIL researchers say improving computing technology after Moore’s Law will require more efficient software, new algorithms, and specialized hardware.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Analog Devices to Buy Rival Maxim Integrated
Analog Devices, Inc. and Maxim Integrated Products, Inc. announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which ADI will acquire Maxim in an all stock transaction that values the combined enterprise at over $68 billion. The transaction, which was unanimously approved by the Boards of Directors of both companies, will strengthen ADI as an analog semiconductor leader
Analog Devices Announces Combination with Maxim Integrated, Strengthening Analog Semiconductor Leadership
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200713005204/en/Analog-Devices-Announces-Combination-Maxim-Integrated-Strengthening
Increased scale and diversification from $8.2 billion1 revenue portfolio that is positioned to capitalize on key secular growth trends
Enhances domain expertise and breadth of engineering capabilities to develop more complete solutions to solve customers’ most complex problems
Expected to be accretive to free cash flow at closing and adjusted EPS in 18 months post-close with $275 million of cost synergies by the end of year two
Tomi Engdahl says:
U.S. Clings to Semiconductor Dominance as China Mounts Challenge
https://www.eetimes.com/u-s-clings-to-semiconductor-dominance-as-china-mounts-challenge/
The notoriously cyclical semiconductor industry appears for now to be riding out an “un-forecasted” event, otherwise known as Covid-19, as chip makers provide core technologies for remote work, education and other connectivity requirements equal in importance to power and water during a pandemic.
Indeed, industry observers suggest the chip industry is fueling a transition in human interactions akin to the virtualization trends in electronics over the last decade.
The World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) survey inched upward in May by 1.5 percent on a monthly basis with global sales reaching $35 billion. While acknowledging “significant uncertainty in the months ahead,” the Semiconductor Industry Association said the WSTS is forecasting an annual IC sales increase of 3.3 percent.
SIA’s prediction is in line with other industry forecasts of flat to slightly higher 2020 sales compared to the down-year of 2019. For example, John Pitzer, a managing director at Credit Suisse, forecasts roughly 2 percent growth in global chips sales after accounting for the impact of Covid-19.
Tomi Engdahl says:
From a macro-economic perspective, Pitzer sees the pandemic creating a “significant value transfer” within the global semiconductor industry as the pandemic drives demand away from aircraft to videoconferencing, gaming and other forms of virtual interaction.
That pandemic-driven shift means “the long-term growth rate of the semiconductor industry is poised to accelerate,” Pitzer asserted.
https://www.eetimes.com/u-s-clings-to-semiconductor-dominance-as-china-mounts-challenge/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft’s Flight Simulator 2020 will launch on August 18
https://techcrunch.com/2020/07/13/microsofts-flight-simulator-2020-will-launch-on-august-18/?tpcc=ECFB2020
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google Cloud’s new BigQuery Omni will let developers query data in GCP, AWS and Azure
https://tcrn.ch/307DjiD
At its virtual Cloud Next ’20 event, Google today announced a number of updates to its cloud portfolio, but the private alpha launch of BigQuery Omni is probably the highlight of this year’s event. Powered by Google Cloud’s Anthos hybrid-cloud platform, BigQuery Omni allows developers to use the BigQuery engine to analyze data that sits in multiple clouds, including those of Google Cloud competitors like AWS and Microsoft Azure — though for now, the service only supports AWS, with Azure support coming later.
Using a unified interface, developers can analyze this data locally without having to move data sets between platforms.
Google has long said that it believes that multi-cloud is the future — something that most of its competitors would probably agree with, though they all would obviously like you to use their tools, even if the data sits in other clouds or is generated off-platform. It’s the tools and services that help businesses to make use of all of this data, after all, where the different vendors can differentiate themselves from each other. Maybe it’s no surprise then, given Google Cloud’s expertise in data analytics, that BigQuery is now joining the multi-cloud fray.
Tomi Engdahl says:
POWER FOR ALL ALLIANCE
One of the largest cross-brand
18V battery systems.
THE battery for your home.
https://www.powerforall-alliance.com/en/
https://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2020/07/14/yhteensopivat-akut-kasityokaluihin/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Part of the application test to see how creatively you can answer, like why are manhole covers round? Or, just plain lazy?
IBM job ad calls for 12 years’ experience with Kubernetes – which is six years old
Other job ads make similar mistakes, and candidates do worse
https://www.theregister.com/2020/07/13/ibm_kubernetes_experience_job_ad/
IBM’s Global Technology Services has posted a job ad calling for candidates with a “minimum 12+ years’ experience in Kubernetes administration and management”.
Which is a little odd because the first GitHub commit for the project was made on June 7, 2014. And the feature freeze for version 1.0 was announced on May 22, 2015.
Sharp-minded Reg readers will have recognised that – absent time travel – it is therefore not possible for anyone to have 12 years’ experience with Kubernetes.
At least Big Blue is not alone in making such a silly mistake
Tomi Engdahl says:
A new study from North Carolina State University and Microsoft finds that the technical interviews currently used in hiring for many software engineering positions test whether a job candidate has performance anxiety rather than whether the candidate is competent at coding. The interviews may also be used to exclude groups or favor specific job candidates.
“Our study suggests that a lot of well-qualified job candidates are being eliminated because they’re not used to working on a whiteboard in front of an audience.”
Tech Sector Job Interviews Assess Anxiety, Not Software Skills
https://news.ncsu.edu/2020/07/tech-job-interviews-anxiety/
“Technical interviews are feared and hated in the industry, and it turns out that these interview techniques may also be hurting the industry’s ability to find and hire skilled software engineers,” says Chris Parnin, an assistant professor of computer science at NC State and co-author of a paper on the work. “Our study suggests that a lot of well-qualified job candidates are being eliminated because they’re not used to working on a whiteboard in front of an audience.”
Technical interviews in the software engineering sector generally take the form of giving a job candidate a problem to solve, then requiring the candidate to write out a solution in code on a whiteboard – explaining each step of the process to an interviewer.
Previous research found that many developers in the software engineering community felt the technical interview process was deeply flawed.
“People who took the traditional interview performed half as well as people that were able to interview in private,” Parnin says. “In short, the findings suggest that companies are missing out on really good programmers because those programmers aren’t good at writing on a whiteboard and explaining their work out loud while coding.”
“The technical interview process gives people with industry connections an advantage,” says Mahnaz Behroozi, first author of study and a Ph.D. student at NC State. “But it gives a particularly large advantage to people who can afford to take the time to focus solely on preparing for an interview process that has very little to do with the nature of the work itself.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Layer gets $5.6M to make joint working on spreadsheets less hassle
https://techcrunch.com/2020/07/14/layer-gets-5-6m-to-make-joint-working-on-spreadsheets-less-hassle/?tpcc=ECFB2020
Layer is not trying to replace Excel or Google Sheets. Instead the Berlin-based productivity startup wants to make life easier for those whose job entails wrangling massive spreadsheets and managing data inputs from across an organization — such as for budgeting, financial reporting or HR functions — by adding a granular control access layer on top.
Tomi Engdahl says:
SaaS and cloud stocks finally give back ground
https://tcrn.ch/32dsn5y
After a heated run, SaaS and cloud stocks dipped sharply during regular trading on Monday.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Linux founder tells Intel to stop inventing ‘magic instructions’ and ‘start fixing real problems’
https://www.pcgamer.com/linux-founder-tells-intel-to-stop-inventing-magic-instructions-and-start-fixing-real-problems/?utm_content=buffer06981&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=buffer_pcgamerfb
Linus Torvalds offered up some harsh comments on one of Intel’s CPU technologies.
Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux, offered up some interesting thoughts on Intel’s Advanced Vector Extensions 512 (AVX-512) instruction set, calling it a “power virus” that was only created to make the company’s CPU hardware perform well in benchmarks. He also admitted to being “biased” and “grumpy” in his assessment.
“I hope AVX512 dies a painful death, and that Intel starts fixing real problems instead of trying to create magic instructions to then create benchmarks that they can look good on. I hope Intel gets back to basics: gets their process working again, and concentrate more on regular code that isn’t HPC or some other pointless special case,” Torvalds said.
Torvalds views AVX-512 as an example of “special-case garbage,” noting that in regards to floating point performance, “absolutely nobody cares outside of benchmarks.”
“I absolutely detest FP benchmarks, and I realize other people care deeply. I just think AVX-512 is exactly the wrong thing to do. It’s a pet peeve of mine. It’s a prime example of something Intel has done wrong, partly by just increasing the fragmentation of the market,” Torvalds said.
This is not the first time Torvalds has directed his ire at Intel. In 2018, Torvalds referred to Intel’s Meltdown and Spectre patches as “COMPLETE AND UTTER GARBAGE,” in all caps to emphasize his level of anger.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Linus Torvalds: I hope Intel’s AVX-512 ‘dies a painful death’
Torvalds wants Intel to address real-world uses, not supercomputer benchmarks and “special-case garbage”.
https://www.zdnet.com/article/linus-torvalds-i-hope-intels-avx-512-dies-a-painful-death/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google And Ubuntu Join Forces To Make Desktop Linux Even Better
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonevangelho/2020/07/09/google-and-ubuntu-desktop-linux-flutter/
So what happened this week between Google and Ubuntu-maker Canonical is a massive step forward in improving the selection of software available on desktop Linux.
A First-Class Way To Build Linux Apps
Enter Flutter, an open source UI framework created by Google that lets developers build all kinds of apps from the same codebase, using Google’s Dart programming language. Flutter was conceived as a way for developers to create cross-platform apps for iOS and Android, but last year version 1.5 of the Flutter SDK expanded to include desktop, mobile and embedded devices.
Effectively, Google wants developers to concentrate on building the software experience using its portable framework, and be less concerned about the screen developers are building it for.
Google recently touted the fact that more than 80,000 “fast, beautiful Flutter apps” have been published to Google Play, and that an impressive 500,000 developers use Flutter each month.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.columbiaroad.com/blog/devops-as-an-enabler-for-digital-sales
Tomi Engdahl says:
Programming languages: Now Rust project looks for a way into the Linux kernel
https://www.zdnet.com/article/programming-languages-now-rust-project-looks-for-a-way-into-the-linux-kernel/
The Rust programming language gets a nod of approval from Linux creator Linus Torvalds.
The makers of systems programming language Rust are looking at how to adapt the language for use in the Linux kernel.
Josh Triplett, an Intel engineer and lead of the Rust language project, says he’d “love to see a path to incorporating Rust into the kernel”, as long as it’s done cautiously and doesn’t upset Linux kernel creator Linus Torvalds.
“If building Rustic interfaces within the kernel requires some additional language features, we should see what enhancements to the language would best serve those requirements,”
“I’ve often seen the sentiment that co-evolving Linux and a C compiler would be beneficial for both; I think the same would be true of Linux and the Rust compiler,” Triplett added.
Triplett is an advocate of using Rust for systems-level programming and as a replacement for C, which has been widely used at Microsoft for Windows and within the Linux kernel. Microsoft sees value in Rust for eradicating memory-related security flaws in parts of Windows written in C and C++.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Programming language rankings: R makes a comeback but there’s debate about its rise
There’s no clear agreement about what’s behind statistical programming language R’s recent apparent rise.
https://www.zdnet.com/article/programming-language-rankings-r-makes-a-comeback-but-theres-debate-about-its-rise/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://thenewstack.io/linus-torvalds-on-diversity-longevity-rust-and-arm-chips/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Shock.. The ability to bullshit in front of people is better than actual real skills. Sounds absolutely 2020.
Tech Sector Job Interviews Assess Anxiety, Not Software Skills
https://news.ncsu.edu/2020/07/tech-job-interviews-anxiety/
A new study from North Carolina State University and Microsoft finds that the technical interviews currently used in hiring for many software engineering positions test whether a job candidate has performance anxiety rather than whether the candidate is competent at coding. The interviews may also be used to exclude groups or favor specific job candidates.
“Technical interviews are feared and hated in the industry, and it turns out that these interview techniques may also be hurting the industry’s ability to find and hire skilled software engineers,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
In the cloud era, building on platforms you don’t own is normal
https://techcrunch.com/2020/07/16/ncino-marks-second-successful-ipo-of-company-built-on-salesforce-platform/?tpcc=ECFB2020
Tomi Engdahl says:
Tomin pahvilaatikkoniksi helpottaa läppärin käyttöä pihalla: “Tämä muuttaa kesän etätyöskentelyn”
https://www.mtvuutiset.fi/artikkeli/tomin-pahvilaatikkoniksi-helpottaa-lapparin-kayttoa-pihalla-tama-muuttaa-kesan-etatyoskentelyn/7856376#gs.b01waj
You can finally comfortably WFH in the sun with this cardboard box hack
https://thetab.com/uk/2020/06/24/cardboard-box-hack-finally-comfortably-wfh-in-the-sun-162952
No more glaring screens or overheated laptops
As much as we all miss the freedom of normality, one thing that lockdown has blessed us with is the WFH experience. We’ve swapped out the long, sweaty commutes and expensive travel for lie-ins, comfortable clothes and the option to work in bed if we wish. It’s pure bliss and to top it off, when the sun’s out we don’t have to sit in a hot office, desperately glugging Diet Coke and counting down to lunch when we can squeeze in a mere hour of sun. Finally the fantasy of sunbathing with a nice beverage and tappidy tapping on our laptops is possible.
However, working in the sun comes with its challenges. You want to face the sun to get maximum face tan but then you’re squinting, so you put your sunglasses on and then you can’t see the screen. Instead, you try facing away from the sun – new problem – the sun is reflecting off the screen, blinding you and making it even more impossible to see what you’re doing.
What is the cardboard box hack?
The trick was shared by Tom Woods and involves one cardboard box, one laptop and a table. Tom introduced his idea in a post that showed a picture of his laptop inside a cardboard box with a very JML-style caption: “The latest in ‘Work From Home Technology’. When you are working from home and want to enjoy the sunshine, yet can’t see your laptop screen because of the sun! Get yourself the latest Technological breakthrough… The Cardboard Box. I can top up my tan and workout side, without any issues. Get yours today…”
Tomi Engdahl says:
‘No code’ will define the next generation of software
https://techcrunch.com/2020/07/07/no-code-will-define-the-next-generation-of-software/
It seems like every software funding and product announcement these days includes some sort of reference to “no code” platforms or functionality. The frequent callbacks to this buzzy term reflect a realization that we’re entering a new software era.
Similar to cloud, no code is not a category itself, but rather a shift in how users interface with software tools. In the same way that PCs democratized software usage, APIs democratized software connectivity and the cloud democratized the purchase and deployment of software, no code will usher in the next wave of enterprise innovation by democratizing technical skill sets. No code is empowering business users to take over functionality previously owned by technical users by abstracting complexity and centering around a visual workflow. This profound generational shift has the power to touch every software market and every user across the enterprise.
The average enterprise tech stack has never been more complex
In a perfect world, all enterprise applications would be properly integrated, every front end would be shiny and polished, and internal processes would be efficient and automated. Alas, in the real world, engineering and IT teams spend a disproportionate share of their time fighting fires in security, fixing internal product bugs and running vendor audits. These teams are bursting at the seams, spending an estimated 30% of their resources building and maintaining internal tools, torpedoing productivity and compounding technical debt.
Seventy-two percent of IT leaders now say project backlogs prevent them from working on strategic projects. Hiring alone can’t solve the problem. The demand for technical talent far outpaces supply, as demonstrated by the fact that six out of 10 CIOs expect skills shortages to prevent their organizations from keeping up with the pace of change.
At the same time that IT and engineering teams are struggling to maintain internal applications, business teams keep adding fragmented third-party tools to increase their own agility. In fact, the average enterprise is supporting 1,200 cloud-based applications at any given time.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Koyeb is a serverless startup that ingests, processes and stores data with multiple cloud providers
https://techcrunch.com/2020/07/07/koyeb-is-a-serverless-startup-that-ingests-processes-and-stores-data-from-multiple-cloud-providers/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google launches the Open Usage Commons, a new organization for managing open-source trademarks
https://techcrunch.com/2020/07/08/google-launches-the-open-usage-commons-a-new-organization-for-managing-open-source-trademarks/
Google, in collaboration with a number of academic leaders and its consulting partner SADA Systems, today announced the launch of the Open Usage Commons, a new organization that aims to help open-source projects manage their trademarks.
To be fair, at first glance, open-source trademarks may not sound like it would be a major problem (or even a really interesting topic), but there’s more here than meets the eye. As Google’s director of open source Chris DiBona told me, trademarks have increasingly become an issue for open-source projects, not necessarily because there have been legal issues around them, but because commercial entities that want to use the logo or name of an open-source project on their websites, for example, don’t have the reassurance that they are free to use those trademarks.
https://openusage.org/
Tomi Engdahl says:
You can build Linus Torvalds’ PC: Here’s all the hardware and where to buy it
https://www.zdnet.com/article/you-can-build-linus-torvalds-pc-heres-all-the-hardware-and-where-to-buy-it/
Normally, Torvalds would pop into his local Fry’s. But in these pandemic times, he ordered everything from Amazon. Here’s the complete list of parts.
Linus builds Linus’ new PC!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Kua9cY8q_EI
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft offers its own File Recovery Tool for Windows 10
https://techxplore.com/news/2020-06-microsoft-recovery-tool-windows.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
‘It’s really hard to find maintainers…’ Linus Torvalds ponders the future of Linux
Will code move on to a language such as Rust? ‘I’m convinced it’s going to happen’ says kernel colonel
https://www.theregister.com/2020/06/30/hard_to_find_linux_maintainers_says_torvalds/
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Sky Is Truly the Limit
Get started with SkySQL today
https://go.mariadb.com/SkySQL_Try_Now_LP_3.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Game developer poll suggests longer hours and less productivity as the industry adapts to remote work
https://techcrunch.com/2020/07/16/game-developer-poll-suggests-longer-hours-and-less-productivity-as-the-industry-adapts-to-remote-work/?tpcc=ECFB2020
Ahead of the upcoming online-only version of its big annual conference, GDC commissioned a survey of 2,500 game developers to determine how the industry is coping with the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. While gaming sales are up as many turn to the medium to cope with stay-at-home orders, the virus appears to be impacting devs in similar (if somewhat blunted) fashion to innumerable other industries.
For starters, 32% find themselves being less productive, in spite of working longer hours. That no doubt sounds familiar to anyone who has attempted to transition to a home office amid the pandemic. Some 70% of developers say they’ve moved to working from home — if that number seems relatively low, that’s only because 27% of those surveyed say they were already working from home. That leaves some 3% in the office, I suppose.
One-quarter of respondents say their household income has declined, while a third say their business has declined over the last few months. A third also say they’ve had a project delayed.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Legal clouds gather over US cloud services, after CJEU ruling
https://tcrn.ch/2ZFO5xA
In the wake of yesterday’s landmark ruling by Europe’s top court — striking down a flagship transatlantic data transfer framework called Privacy Shield, and cranking up the legal uncertainty around processing EU citizens’ data in the U.S. in the process — Europe’s lead data protection regulator has fired its own warning shot at the region’s data protection authorities (DPAs), essentially telling them to get on and do the job of intervening to stop people’s data flowing to third countries where it’s at risk.
Countries like the U.S.
The original complaint that led to the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) ruling focused on Facebook’s use of a data transfer mechanism called Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) to authorize moving EU users’ data to the U.S. for processing.
Complainant Max Schrems asked the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) to suspend Facebook’s SCC data transfers in light of U.S. government mass surveillance programs. Instead, the regulator went to court to raise wider concerns about the legality of the transfer mechanism.
That in turn led Europe’s top judges to nuke the Commission’s adequacy decision, which underpinned the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield — meaning the U.S. no longer has a special arrangement greasing the flow of personal data from the EU. Yet, at the time of writing, Facebook is still using SCCs to process EU users’ data in the U.S. Much has changed, but the data hasn’t stopped flowing — yet.
Yesterday the tech giant said it would “carefully consider” the findings and implications of the CJEU decision on Privacy Shield, adding that it looked forward to “regulatory guidance.” It certainly didn’t offer to proactively flip a kill switch and stop the processing itself.
The DPC’s statement also only went so far as to say the use of SCCs for taking data to the U.S. for processing is “questionable” — adding that case by case analysis would be key.
The regulator remains the focus of sustained criticism in Europe over its enforcement record for major cross-border data protection complaints — with still zero decisions issued more than two years after the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into force, and an ever-growing backlog of open investigations into the data processing activities of platform giants.
The painstaking pace of enforcement around Europe’s flagship data protection framework remains a problem for EU lawmakers — whose two-year review last month called for uniformly “vigorous” enforcement by regulators.
“European supervisory authorities have the duty to diligently enforce the applicable data protection legislation and, where appropriate, to suspend or prohibit transfers of data to a third country,” writes EDPS Wojciech Wiewiórowski, in a statement, which warns against further dithering or can-kicking on the intervention front.
“As the supervisory authority of the EU institutions, bodies, offices and agencies, the EDPS is carefully analysing the consequences of the judgment on the contracts concluded by EU institutions, bodies, offices and agencies. The example of the recent EDPS’ own-initiative investigation into European institutions’ use of Microsoft products and services confirms the importance of this challenge,” he adds.
Part of the complexity of enforcement of Europe’s data protection rules is the lack of a single authority; a varied patchwork of supervisory authorities responsible for investigating complaints and issuing decisions.
In the statement, Hamburg’s data commissioner, Johannes Caspar, added: “Difficult times are looming for international data traffic.”
In a press note today, Berlin’s DPA also took a tough line, warning that data transfers to third countries would only be permitted if they have a level of data protection essentially equivalent to that offered within the EU.
In the case of the U.S. — home to the largest and most used cloud services — Europe’s top judges yesterday reiterated very clearly that that is not in fact the case.
“The times when personal data could be transferred to the U.S. for convenience or cost savings are over after this judgment,” she added.
“Now is the time for Europe’s digital independence,” she added.
Short of radical changes to U.S. surveillance law, it’s tough to see how any new framework could be made to legally stick, though. Privacy Shield’s predecessor arrangement, Safe Harbour, stood for around 15 years. Its shiny “new and improved” replacement didn’t even last five.
In the wake of the CJEU ruling, data exporters and importers are required to carry out an assessment of a country’s data regime to assess adequacy with EU legal standards before using SCCs to transfer data there.
“When performing such prior assessment, the exporter (if necessary, with the assistance of the importer) shall take into consideration the content of the SCCs, the specific circumstances of the transfer, as well as the legal regime applicable in the importer’s country. The examination of the latter shall be done in light of the non-exhaustive factors set out under Art 45(2) GDPR,” Jelinek writes.
“If the result of this assessment is that the country of the importer does not provide an essentially equivalent level of protection, the exporter may have to consider putting in place additional measures to those included in the SCCs. The EDPB is looking further into what these additional measures could consist of.”
One thing is crystal clear: Any sense of legal certainty U.S. cloud services were deriving from the existence of the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield — with its flawed claim of data protection adequacy — has vanished like summer rain.
In its place, a sense of déjà vu and a lot more work for lawyers.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.edn.com/stadia-review-will-google-stick-with-online-gaming/
Tomi Engdahl says:
5nm laser lithography breakthrough may lift Chinese chip-making
https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1194063.shtml
A Chinese research institute has made a breakthrough in a new type of 5 nanometer (nm) laser lithography technology, which industry insiders believe could lay the foundation for research into a self-developed advanced lithography machine, a field in which China lags behind some developed Western countries.
But they stressed that China remains “far away” from producing such a chip-making machine as there are still technological barriers. Lack of sufficient capital also presents an obstacle to translate the theoretical findings into production power.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://pentestmag.com/making-aws-console-passwordless/
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Intel Lakefield Deep Dive: Everything To Know About the First x86 Hybrid CPU
https://www.anandtech.com/show/15877/intel-hybrid-cpu-lakefield-all-you-need-to-know
For the past eighteen months, Intel has paraded its new ‘Lakefield’ processor design around the press and the public as a paragon of new processor innovation. Inside, Intel pairs one of its fast peak performance cores with four of its lower power efficient cores, and uses novel technology in order to build the processor in the smallest footprint it can. The new Lakefield design is a sign that Intel is looking into new processor paradigms, such as hybrid processors with different types of cores, but also different stacking and packaging technologies to help drive the next wave of computing. With this article, we will tell you all you need to know about Lakefield.
Part Smartphone, Part PC
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google, SkyWater Release Production Dev Kit, Offer Open Hardware Projects Free 130nm Manufacturing
Now available in experimental form, open hardware designers can submit via the PDK for chip production this November.
https://www.hackster.io/news/google-skywater-release-production-dev-kit-offer-open-hardware-projects-free-130nm-manufacturing-eadfefbcda7b
Tomi Engdahl says:
Arm vs x86: Instruction sets, architecture, and all key differences explained
https://www.androidauthority.com/arm-vs-x86-key-differences-explained-568718/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Former Mac boss predicts PC makers will have to dump AMD and Intel to ‘go ARM’
By Paul Lilly 3 days ago
https://www.pcgamer.com/former-mac-boss-predicts-pc-makers-will-have-to-dump-amd-and-intel-to-go-arm/?utm_content=buffer5fd87&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=buffer_pcgamerfb
If an ex-Apple exec is right, it’s only a matter of time before PC builders kick x86 CPUs to the curb and build around ARM hardware.
Jean-Louis Gassée, a former Apple executive who led the development of Mac computers in the late 1980s. In no uncertain terms, he says Apple’s decision to phase out Intel CPUs in favor of its own silicon based on ARM will force “PC OEMs to reconsider their allegiance to x86 silicon…and that will have serious consequences for the old Wintel partnership.”
You see, Apple is embarking on a two-year transition plan to get every Mac running on ARM-based silicon instead of Intel’s x86 CPUs that it’s been using for the last decade and a half. The decision has been met with skepticism—Gordon Mah Ung at PCWorld posited that Apple’s move from Intel to ARM means people should stop buying Macs. Others have questioned how the Mac Pro can remain a relevant, high powered machine running on ARM.
Not Gassée, though. What he lays out in a blog post is a domino effect that will shake up the PC industry as it currently exists. Apple will get the ball rolling by switching completely over to ARM, then Microsoft will put more effort into making Windows on ARM work well, because Microsoft’s only other choice is to “cede modern PCs to Apple.” It’s not going to do that.
“Microsoft will forge ahead…with repercussions for the rest of the Windows PC industry. Specifically, what are Dell, HP, Asus, and others going to do if Apple offers materially better laptops and desktops and Microsoft continues to improve Windows on ARM Surface devices?
https://mondaynote.com/apple-silicon-the-passing-of-wintel-79a5ef66ad2b
Tomi Engdahl says:
Intel will finally have a 16-core mainstream chip… but probably not the cores you were looking for.
Intel’s next, next-gen CPUs are already getting benchmarked
By Dave James a day ago
https://www.pcgamer.com/intel-alder-lake-cpu-sisoft/?utm_content=buffer5b077&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=buffer_pcgamerfb
Using a mixed big.LITTLE design for our future desktop gaming chips is fascinating, but rather controversial.
Tomi Engdahl says:
GitHub, the world’s largest open-source software site, just had mounds of data stored in the permafrost chamber of an old coal mine deep in an Arctic mountain for 1,000 years
https://www.businessinsider.com/github-data-stored-norway-arctic-code-vault-2020-7
GitHub just stored a full archive of all current public repository data in a frozen Norwegian mountain.
Dubbed the GitHub Arctic Code Vault, the project was designed “to preserve open-source software for future generations” for the next 1,000 years.
On February 2, GitHub took a snapshot of all active public repositories on the site. In computing speak, snapshot refers to a copy of a system captured at a particular point in time. So GitHub is archiving all of its code to-date, similar to how you’d back up a disk drive to ensure your files are more secure.
According to the blog post, GitHub teamed up with Piql, a Norway-based computer services company that specializes in data preservation, to write 21TB (terabytes) of repository data onto 186 reels of digital photosensitive archival film. The boxes of film reels, emblazoned with GitHub’s Octocat logo, were then shipped to Longyearbyen, a town of more than 2,000 people.
The stored data will be near the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, a large storage facility of a wide variety of plant seeds that was installed in 2008.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Intel’s fabs fell behind a couple of years ago, so competitors’ chips now perform better at less power and have better profit margins. Due to these reasons, Intel lost Apple, as well as other sales. Intel has to do something quick to save the company, and I think that they will choose to stay competitive, even if that takes using non-Intel fabs.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-24/intel-considers-what-was-once-heresy-not-manufacturing-chips?utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&cmpid=socialflow-facebook-business&utm_medium=social&utm_content=business&utm_source=facebook
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nvidia buying ARM would be a seismic shift of power in the chip industry
https://www.pcgamer.com/nvidia-buying-arm-would-be-a-seismic-shift-of-power-in-the-chip-industry/?utm_content=bufferba641&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=buffer_pcgamerfb
Putting ARM up for sale is big news in and of itself, but having Nvidia emerge as a potential suitor? Well, that’s gargantuan. It’s also all true, according to the hottest rumor in tech right now.
Here’s the thing—Nvidia recently leapfrogged Intel in market capitalization for the first time in history, meaning the GPU maker was worth more than the CPU maker. I say “was” because Intel’s market cap has since bounced back in front of Nvidia. At the time of writing, Intel is worth $258.49 billion, while Nvidia is close behind at $256.79 billion.
The bigger point is, Nvidia is basically as big as Intel, in terms of worth. They are both juggernauts in the chip industry. ARM, meanwhile, powers almost every type of device imaginable.
ARM’s value is in licensing its intellectual property (IP) to companies far and wide, including AMD, Apple, Broadcom, Intel, Nvidia, Samsung, Qualcomm, and others.
Incidentally, Softbank is said to have approached Apple about buying ARM, but the Cupertino outfit passed, according to the report. It’s thought that ARM’s licensing model just doesn’t mesh with Apple’s own way of doing business. Furthermore, an acquisition by Apple could potentially raise even more regulatory eyebrows, considering recent events.