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:
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/dont-build-gaming-pc-now
Tomi Engdahl says:
Leaked Intel CPU shots show how close Rocket Lake and Alder Lake are to taking on AMD’s Ryzen 5000
https://www.pcgamer.com/intel-alder-lake-rocket-lake-cpu-pictured/
Tomi Engdahl says:
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X ends Intel’s hegemony in single-thread perf; 10% faster than Core i9-10900K and 23% faster than Ryzen 9 3900X
https://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Ryzen-5-5600X-ends-Intel-s-hegemony-in-single-thread-perf-10-faster-than-Core-i9-10900K-and-23-faster-than-Ryzen-9-3900X.501463.0.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/microsoft-windows-10-1809-reaches-end-of-service-next-week/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.mikrobitti.fi/uutiset/windows-10-murroksessa-microsoft-esti-kayttajien-paasyn-joihinkin-vanhan-ohjauspaneelin-kohteisiin/1b2ce0ae-4752-4fdf-b598-3d82ba53ff4a
Tomi Engdahl says:
AMD has Ryzen up to beat Intel with its new Zen 3 CPUs
AMD takes the performance crown from Intel
https://www.theverge.com/21552336/amd-zen-3-ryzen-review-roundup-5950x-intel-comparison
AMD has beaten Intel’s performance advantage in desktop PCs with its new Ryzen 5000 series CPUs. That’s the verdict from a range of reviewers this week that have been testing AMD’s flagship $799 Ryzen 9 5950X with its 16 cores and 32 threads. Even the entry level Ryzen 5 5600X offers some impressive performance at just $299.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft Teams is getting a killer feature Zoom can’t match
https://www.tomsguide.com/news/microsoft-teams-is-getting-a-killer-feature-zoom-cant-match
Tomi Engdahl says:
Best Linux desktop distributions of 2020
Jack Wallen lays out his favorite Linux desktop distributions for 2020. Is yours on the list?
https://www.techrepublic.com/article/linux-desktop-distributions-best-of-2020/
Ubuntu 20.10
No distribution is as regular as Ubuntu. Year after year, it not only just works, it never fails to impress, and Ubuntu 20.10 didn’t disappoint.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Intel’s Success Came With Making Its Own Chips. Until Now.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/intel-chips-cpu-factory-outsourcing-semiconductor-manufacturing-11604605618
The Silicon Valley pioneer long held it had to build its flagship chips in its own factories; then it hit the wall and is considering outsourcing—a milestone in the story of America’s losing its manufacturing primacy
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/windows-10-20h2-lsass-crash-issue-causes-forced-reboots/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.techradar.com/news/microsoft-warns-windows-10-update-breaks-office-updates
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.iflscience.com/space/what-is-an-algorithm-how-computers-know-what-to-do-with-data/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.outsystems.com/p/low-code-platform/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft helped me install Ubuntu Linux on my Windows 10 PC, and it’s actually pretty good
https://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-helped-me-install-ubuntu-linux-on-my-windows-10-pc-and-its-actually-pretty-good/
Anyone who’s ever read the comments here knows that the answer to every tech problem is “Switch to Linux.” If you’re curious about what Linux is and how it works, Microsoft can help.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Now more essential than ever — the role of the Windows PC has changed
https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2020/09/30/now-more-essential-than-ever-the-role-of-the-windows-pc-has-changed/
Tomi Engdahl says:
AMD Hybrid CPUs: No Point in Big.Little for PCs Unless OS Can Use It
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/amd-big-little-cpus
AMD continues to study hybrid CPU architectures
AMD filed a patent for hybrid processors featuring heterogeneous general-purpose cores as far back as 2017, but the company does not seem to have plans to bring such CPUs to the market before operating systems for PCs can use them properly. Joe Macri, Vice President and Product Chief Technology Officer at AMD, sees how different types of cores could bring advantages to PCs, but not before OSes get an appropriate scheduler and memory allocator (via PC Gamer).
Arm’s Big.Little heterogeneous multi-core CPU technology, which uses high-performance ‘big’ cores for demanding tasks and low-power ‘little’ cores for background tasks, has proven to be quite useful on Google Android-based smartphones.
Eventually something similar was introduced by Apple for its iOS-powered devices. Intel unveiled its first codenamed Lakefield hybrid processor for ultra-light and innovative form factors earlier this year and plans to bring its hybrid concept to higher-performance PCs in 2021 with Alder Lake CPUs.
AMD says that it has been studying hybrid CPU architectures for a while, but does not have any immediate plans it could share.
Building a CPU with different types of general-purpose cores and a system architecture around it are just two parts of a multi-part equation. Operating systems need to learn how to properly schedule tasks and allocate memory for different types of cores in a bid to enhance user experience noticeably. Furthermore, actual programs have to seamlessly switch from one type of cores to another.
“Over time I think there will be a point when we are going to need ‘little,’ and it will be a point in time when the OS has the right attributes, the right capabilities in its scheduler and memory allocator, we’ll have the right memory subsystem,” said Macri. ‘We’ll be able to give you not just a little bit better experience, but a much better experience. If we can’t get that experience change to be noticeable, why do it?”
Tomi Engdahl says:
How to switch an old Windows laptop to Linux
Don’t toss the old technology — give it a new OS
https://www.theverge.com/21550815/windows-microsoft-linux-mint-laptop-how-to-switch
Tomi Engdahl says:
Linuxista poistetaan alkuperäisestä julkaisusta lähtien mukana ollut “houkutteleva oikotie” – Torvalds mielissään muutoksesta
4.11.202021:11|päivitetty5.11.202009:45
Linuxin ytimessä lymyillyt set_fs() -funktio on aiheuttanut paljon tietoturvaongelmia. Nyt se viimein poistetaan.
https://www.mikrobitti.fi/uutiset/linuxista-poistetaan-alkuperaisesta-julkaisusta-lahtien-mukana-ollut-houkutteleva-oikotie-torvalds-mielissaan-muutoksesta/a87777be-657d-45d7-8be6-9ca196924a7d
Tomi Engdahl says:
Leaked Apple ARM CPU benchmark beats Intel Core i9 16-inch MacBook Pro
https://www.techradar.com/news/apple-arm-cpu-benchmark-leak-vs-intel-core-i9-16-inch-macbook-pro
A newly leaked benchmark shows Apple’s ARM-based A14X Bionic processor outperforming an Intel i9-powered MacBook Pro by a healthy margin. The new chip is expected to debut on November 10 during Apple’s “One More Thing” event.
An unnamed device powered by the A14X Bionic chip was reportedly benchmarked in Geekbench 5, which was likely an engineering sample, according to Wccftech. In terms of single core performance, the A14X Bionic scored a 1634 and a 7220 in multi-core performance.
This was slightly ahead of the iPad Air powered by the A14 Bionic, which scored a 1583 in single-core and a 4198 in multi-core.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Arm has launched a CPU monster that will get Intel and AMD very worried
https://www.techradar.com/news/arm-has-launched-an-nvidia-cpu-monster-that-will-get-intel-and-amd-very-worried
Tomi Engdahl says:
Python beats Java to become second-most popular programming language
https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/technology/python-beats-java-to-become-second-most-popular-programming-language/article33041250.ece
Python’s recent surge in popularity can be attributed to rise in data mining, artificial intelligence (AI) and numerical computing, TIOBE stated.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Chip-making is now a big opportunity for India
By Bibhu Ranjan Mishra
November 09, 2020 13:04 IST
https://www.rediff.com/business/report/tech-chip-making-is-now-a-big-opportunity-for-india/20201109.htm
Even though India has major strengths in chip design and in making the software that actually commands the processors to execute specific tasks, chip-manufacturing has never been the country’s strength.
After almost fifty years, Moore’s Law – which set the pace for innovation in the world of computing and electronics – is faltering.
The tiny chips that housed ever-more transistors with every passing year, increasing processing speed, will no longer be able to do so.
Experts say this provides a huge opportunity for India, which missed positioning itself as a hub for semiconductor fabrication in the early days, when South Korea, China and Taiwan took the lead.
This was partly because fabs are capital-intensive and need fresh investments every three to five years just to address obsolescence.
“Semiconductor chips are at the heart of everything around us,” says Vinod Dham, a leading Silicon Valley-based entrepreneur and venture capitalist, who is also known as the father of Pentium, the hugely successful microprocessor brand by Intel.
“As 50 years of the relentless march of Moore’s Law is coming to a halt, a level playing field for new entrants like India is opening up.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X hits over 6.3 GHz and 15,000 points in Cinebench R20
https://www.notebookcheck.net/The-AMD-Ryzen-9-5950X-hits-over-6-3-GHz-and-15-000-points-in-Cinebench-R20.502596.0.html
The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X has already shown its overclocking potential with an all-core boost clock of 6.362 GHz. The Vermeer processor has pushed past the 15,000 mark in Cinebench R20 too, albeit at 1.692 V and on LN2 cooling.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple’s A14X Silicon gets benchmarked and it’s way more than Core i9 MacBook Pro
https://tech.hindustantimes.com/laptops-pc/news/apple-s-a14x-silicon-for-mac-gets-benchmarked-and-it-s-way-more-than-core-i9-based-macbook-pro-71604769221599.html
Apple’s 16-inch MacBook Pro’s Intel Core-i9 processor scored 1096 for single core and 6869 for multi-core vs A14x’s 1634 and 7220.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Reviews Are in: AMD Is the New Gaming CPU King
The chipmaker has made a ton of progress in the past few years.
https://www.fool.com/investing/2020/11/07/the-reviews-are-in-amd-is-the-new-gaming-cpu-king/
Tomi Engdahl says:
64-core AMD Zen 3-based EPYC 7713 Milan server CPU spotted online, obliterates the Intel Xeon Platinum
https://www.notebookcheck.net/64-core-AMD-Zen-3-based-EPYC-7713-Milan-server-CPU-spotted-online-obliterates-the-Intel-Xeon-Platinum.502439.0.html
With the Ryzen 5000 desktop CPUs already dominating the consumer market in terms of both raw performance and value, AMD is now working on the next-gen EPYC Milan lineup that will target the server market. An early sample of the 64-core EPYC 7713 processor has recently surfaced online with twice the performance of the Intel Xeon Platinum
Expected to start shipping before the end of this year and with full availability planned for 2021, the next-gen EPYC Milan lineup is already showing up in online benchmark databases. Today, the time has come for the processor known as the EPYC 7713, a 64-core chip that promises to reach an impressive level of performance.
The aforementioned processor for the server market is listed in the SiSoftware database with the following details: 64C 128T 2.45GHz, 64x 512kB L2, 8x 32MB L3. What appears to be an early engineering sample — due to the 100-000000344 OPN code — will surely have faster clocks in the market-ready variant. However, the EPYC 7713 is already very fast, with results for the CPU Arithmetic tests that sometimes outperform a quad Intel Xeon Platinum (Caskade Lake-SP) system.
When compared to dual EPYC 7742 Rome configurations with clock speeds of over 3.3 GHz, the EPYC 7713 has absolutely no problem to come out on top.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://techcrunch.com/2020/11/09/ps5-remote-play-app-ps4/
Tomi Engdahl says:
// Pretty crazy. The whole system is optimised at both software and hardware. Apple Silicon M1 chip in MacBook Air outperforms high-end 16-inch MacBook Pro 2019 model https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/cpu/4648107
Tomi Engdahl says:
AnandTech Calls Apple’s Fastest CPU Core Claim for M1 ‘Extremely Plausible’
https://www.macrumors.com/2020/11/11/apple-fastest-cpu-core-m1-extremely-plausible/
Apple on Tuesday unveiled a new MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and Mac mini, making up the first wave of Macs powered by Apple Silicon, and AnandTech has since published a deep dive into Apple’s brand new M1 custom chip at the heart of the new machines.
Beginning with the M1′s unified memory architecture, AnandTech notes that the packaging style keeps the embedded memory off to the side of the compute die rather on top of it, ensuring the chips can be efficiently cooled, which suggests Apple is using a 128-bit DRAM bus similar to that found in previous A-X chips.
Apple says the M1 features four high-performance “Firestorm” CPU cores and four efficiency “Icestorm” cores. Examining an actual die shot shown in Apple’s M1 unveiling, Anandtech explains that the chip appears to have a 12MB cache – up from the 8MB of L2 cache featured in the A14 – which makes sense given that it’s now being used by four high-performance cores instead of two.
The article later goes on to compare the M1 performance to existing Intel and AMD processors and takes the A14 as a benchmark guide, while noting that with its additional cache, “we expect the Firestorm cores used in the M1 to be even faster,” suggesting “Apple’s claim of having the fastest CPU core in the world seems extremely plausible.”
Running the A14 through a series of benchmarks against a Rizen 9 5950X and an Intel i7-1185G7, AnandTech calls the results “mind-boggling,” noting that “the fact the A14 currently competes with the very best top-performance designs that the x86 vendors have on the market today is just an astonishing feat.” Taking into account a graph of single-thread performance gains over the last five years, AnandTech suggests that Intel has increased its chips’ performance by about 28%, while Apple has managed closer to 198% in the same period.
The performance analyses conclude by noting Apple’s enormous power efficiency advantage, which is why the new M1 chip will be able to offer either vastly increased battery life, and/or vastly increased performance compared to the current Intel MacBook line-up. Apple has said it will take at least two years to transition its entire Mac lineup to Apple Silicon. Going on its current performance trajectory, Apple’s forthcoming desktop-class chip designs are likely to look “extremely impressive,” AnandTech concludes.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Andrew Griffin / The Independent:
Interviews with Apple’s Greg Joswiak, Craig Federighi, and John Ternus on the development of M1, the future of Macs, buying version one hardware, and more — Exclusive: Apple’s hardware, software and marketing chiefs explain how the company’s new processors came to exist — Apple’s new M1 chip is a lot of things.
How Apple made its new M1 chip, the latest MacBooks – and used its past to decide its future
https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/apple-m1-interview-macbook-release-specs-ports-reviews-b1721844.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Andrei Frumusanu / AnandTech:
Analysis of Apple’s A14 chip shows an increase in single-thread performance of nearly 3x in 5 years, suggesting M1 will be a formidable rival to x86 incumbents
https://www.anandtech.com/show/16226/apple-silicon-m1-a14-deep-dive
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://sneak.berlin/20201112/your-computer-isnt-yours/
Tomi Engdahl says:
USB 4: Everything We Know, Including Apple Support
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/usb-4-faq,38766.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
The transition to Apple silicon Arm-based computers
https://www.edn.com/the-transition-to-apple-silicon-arm-based-computers/
The path that led to this latest IC is already well-trod to a degree; with the earlier A12-to-A12X/Z evolution, Apple also went from a “two-big/four-little” core arrangement to a fuller “four-and-four” core combination (this time around, perhaps obviously, the CPU cores themselves are more architecturally advanced). And furthering the analogy, the fundamental difference between the A12X and A12Z (as I noted last month) involves the fact that all eight GPU cores are active on the latter (versus only seven on the former); as you’ll soon see, Apple’s done this yield-maximization trick again with the M1.
Tomi Engdahl says:
64-Core AMD EPYC Milan Boasts 3.5 GHz Boost Clock in Leaked Screenshots
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/amd-epyc-7763-milan-zen-3-cpu-specifications
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nvidia Says Feature Similar to AMD’s Smart Access Memory Tech is Coming to Ampere
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/nvidia-amd-smart-access-memory-tech-ampere
Tomi Engdahl says:
Approved! AMD and Nvidia foundry will make tiny things in Arizona desert
https://www.pcgamer.com/tsmc-in-the-desert-with-the-silicon-wafer/
The massive chip shop, due to start serving in 2024, will use a 5nm process, consume 20,000 silicon wafers a month, and potentially cost the company $12 billion.
AMD’s Zen 4 architecture has already been confirmed on the 5nm process node, and one can only assume it will stick with firm partner TSMC for it.
Construction in the desert is due to begin in 2021, and it’s hoped to employ 1,600 people. As noted by our friends at Tom’s Hardware, this will be the most advanced lab for the company outside its home of Taiwan, where it also recently signed a 20-year deal to buy the entire output of two offshore wind farms off the west coast of Taiwan, the largest corporate green energy deal ever made.
Tomi Engdahl says:
FYI: Alibaba Cloud says it has robot sysadmins that swap faulty disks in four minutes
https://www.theregister.com/2020/11/12/alibaba_singles_day/
Tomi Engdahl says:
FYI: Alibaba Cloud says it has robot sysadmins that swap faulty disks in four minutes
https://www.theregister.com/2020/11/12/alibaba_singles_day/
Alibaba claims its online marketplace coped with a peak load of 583,000 orders per second on this year’s Singles Day, China’s internet shopping frenzy event akin to Cyber Monday.
The web giant’s traffic hit that high watermark 26 seconds after sales opened at midnight on November 11, we’re told. The biz also claimed its “optimal elasticity and scheduling capacity led to an 80 per cent reduction of computing resources for every 10,000 transactions conducted.”
Alibaba hasn’t revealed exactly how it did that, though its cloud operation tweeted a video that reveals at least some of its servers used on 11.11 were immersed in what looks like non-conductive liquid coolant to improve performance and system density. Also revealed was the fact the Chinese cloud super-platform has robots capable of finding and replacing faulty disks in four minute
https://mobile.twitter.com/alibaba_cloud/status/1326046809182011392
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ryzen V2000 shows up on SBCs, mini-PCs, and signage player
http://linuxgizmos.com/ryzen-v2000-shows-up-on-sbcs-mini-pcs-and-signage-player/
Tomi Engdahl says:
CBL-Mariner: Microsoft’s internal Linux distribution for Azure first-party services and edge appliances
The Linux Systems Group at Microsoft has developed a Linux distribution for internal use and made it available on GitHub.
https://www.zdnet.com/article/cbl-mariner-microsofts-internal-linux-distribution-for-azure-first-party-services-and-edge-appliances/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Adaptive Computing Developer Contest
https://www.hackster.io/contests/xilinxadaptivecomputing
Tomi Engdahl says:
Intel is over GPUs and CPUs – it’s all about ‘XPUs’ now that OneAPI code-abstraction tool is golden
And why not have a server-grade GPU dedicated to game-streaming to test the new abstraction tool
https://www.theregister.com/2020/11/11/intel_one_api_server_gpu/
Tomi Engdahl says:
AMD Ryzen 7 5700U in HP Pavilion Laptop 15-eh1xxx is an SMT upgrade over the Ryzen 7 4700U with an up to 23% Geekbench multi-core score improvement
https://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Ryzen-7-5700U-in-HP-Pavilion-Laptop-15-eh1xxx-is-an-SMT-upgrade-over-the-Ryzen-7-4700U-with-an-up-to-23-Geekbench-multi-core-score-improvement.503942.0.html
Another example of the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U mobile APU has been spotted, this time being tested in an HP Pavilion laptop on Geekbench. The Lucienne Zen 2-based part showed good improvements over the Renoir Ryzen 7 4700U and includes SMT. However, the difference fades considerably when the Ryzen 7 5700U is compared with the Ryzen 7 4800U.
Tomi Engdahl says:
AMD RYZEN 5 5600X REVIEW
The Ryzen 5 5600X may be the runt of the Zen 3 family, but it delivers where it counts most: gaming.
https://www.pcgamer.com/amd-ryzen-5-5600x-review-benchmarks/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Revolutionary computer chip could merge compute and storage in one
https://www.techradar.com/news/revolutionary-computer-chip-could-merge-compute-and-storage-in-one
Tomi Engdahl says:
AMD Unveils AMD Ryzen™ Embedded V2000 Processors with Enhanced Performance and Power Efficiency
— AMD Ryzen Embedded V2000 Series processors deliver double the cores1, up to 2x the performance-per-watt2 and an estimated 15 percent IPC uplift3 over the previous generation —
https://videocardz.com/press-release/amd-announces-ryzen-embedded-v2000-zen2-series
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://techcrunch.com/2020/11/10/this-is-the-new-macbook-air-powered-by-apple-silicon/
Tomi Engdahl says:
AMD Launches V2000 Ryzen Embedded SOCs With up to Eight 7nm Cores and Radeon Graphics
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/amd-launches-v2000-ryzen-embedded-socs-with-up-to-eight-7nm-cores-and-radeon-graphics
Tomi Engdahl says:
AMD Hybrid CPUs: No Point in Big.Little for PCs Unless OS Can Use It
By Anton Shilov 8 days ago
AMD continues to study hybrid CPU architectures
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/amd-big-little-cpus