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:
National Instruments is releasing free community editions of LabView for personal projects. “We are thrilled to encourage the power and potential of our LabVIEW community members who are involved in home and hobby projects,” said Jeff Kodosky, co-founder of NI and inventor of LabVIEW in a press release. “We created the LabVIEW Community editions so engineers could use the software for free — to pursue their personal ventures, experiment with programming ideas and create and share IP with their peers.”
NI Releases Free Editions of Flagship Software: LabVIEW
LabVIEW Community editions help engineers and hobbyists innovate at home
https://www.ni.com/en-us/about-ni/newsroom/news-releases/ni-releases-free-editions-of-flagship-software–labview.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cybersecurity staff are being transferred to IT support. That’s adding to the risk of data breaches
https://www.zdnet.com/article/cybersecurity-staff-are-being-transferred-to-it-support-thats-adding-to-the-risk-of-data-breaches/
The shift to remote working because of coronavirus has seen the roles of many in the security industry change – and many have worries about what it means for protecting their organisation from attacks.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Intel’s 10th Gen Comet Lake for Desktops: Skylake-S Hits 10 Cores and 5.3 GHz
by Dr. Ian Cutress on April 30, 2020 9:00 AM EST
https://www.anandtech.com/show/15758/intels-10th-gen-comet-lake-desktop
Today we get the full range of its Intel’s 10th Generation processors for desktops. These chips, which fall under the banner of ‘Comet Lake’, will now go up to 10 cores and offer turbo speeds up to 5.3 GHz. Comet Lake is the fifth iteration of Intel’s very profitable Skylake microarchitecture, built on Intel’s 14++nm process, at a time when the competition is on 7nm with sixteen cores. The crux, according to Intel, is that it will offer the best gaming experience in this market.
Users wanting the 10-core 5.3 GHz will need to purchase the new top Core i9-10900K processor, which has a unit price of $488, and keep it under 70 ºC to enable Intel’s new Thermal Velocity Boost. Not only that, despite the 125 W TDP listed on the box, Intel states that the turbo power recommendation is 250 W – the motherboard manufacturers we’ve spoken to have prepared for 320-350 W from their own testing, in order to maintain that top turbo for as long as possible.
Intel esitteli maailman nopeimman peliprosessorin
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/10728-intel-esitteli-maailman-nopeimman-peliprosessorin
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ensi vuodesta lähtien uusissa laitteissa on yksi liitäntä
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/10729-ensi-vuodesta-lahtien-uusissa-laitteissa-on-yksi-liitanta
PC-tekniikassa on haettu yhtä universaalia liitäntää vuosien, jopa vuosikymmenten ajan. Ensi vuodesta lähtien voidaan vihdoin sanoa, että tavoite on saavutettu. USB4 tulee valtaamaan markkinat täysin.
USB4-liitäntä perustuu käytännössä Intelin Thunderbolt-protokollaan. Fyysisesti kyse on USBC-liittimestä ja koska sen läpi on tarkoitus saada kulkemaan kaikki liitäntöjen edellyttämä liikenne datasta eri protokollilla latausvirtaan, on liittimen nastoitus erittäin tärkeässä roolissa.
Tämä näkyy myös uudessa VESA-näyttöorganisaation julkistamassa DisplayPort-liitännän Alt Mode 2 -määrityksessä. Alt Mode viittaa menetelmään, jolla DisplayPort-signaali saadaan siirrettyä USB-liitännän läpi. Ensimmäinen DP Alt Mode -standardi esiteltiin jo 2014 ja nyt VESA on esitellyt Alt Mode -menetelmän myös tuoreelle DisplayPort 2.0 -liitännälle.
USB4-liitännässä DisplayPort-dataa voidaan siirtää jopa 80 gigabittiä videodataa, kun käytössä ovat kaikki neljä linjaa. Toinen tapa on siirtää DP-kuvaa 40 gigabitin nopeudella ja jättää kaksi johdinta USB Superspeed -datansiirrolle.
USB4-liitäntöjen arvellaan ilmestyvän laitteisiin ensi vuonna.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Korona kiihdytti tietokonekauppaa
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/10730-korona-kiihdytti-tietokonekauppaa
Koronaepidemian myötä kasvanut etätyö ja tiedontarve näyttää piristäneen elektroniikan tukkukauppaa. Esimerkiksi tietokoneiden myynti kasvoi vuoden ensimmäisellä neljänneksellä 23,1 prosenttia. Tammi-maaliskuussa suomalaiset ostivat 108 722 tietokonetta.
Elektroniikan tukkukauppiaiden mukaan myös tablettikauppa näytti vilkastumisen merkkejä, sillä kasvua tuli 7,5 prosenttia vuodentakaisesta. Älykellojen myynti jatkoi vahvaa kasvuaan (+69,1 %).
Tomi Engdahl says:
Om Malik / On my Om:
The pandemic brought tech-enabled behaviors previously considered on the fringe into the mainstream and compressed years of digital transformation into months — Disruptions, downturns, and recessions make the weak weaker and the strong stronger. It was true centuries ago, and it is true today.
The inevitable has happened.
https://om.co/2020/05/03/the-inevitable-has-happened/
Disruptions, downturns, and recessions make the weak weaker and the strong stronger. It was true centuries ago, and it is true today.
The 2001 downturn turned telecom and cable giants into the Internet’s gatekeepers. Microsoft emerged victorious with its Internet Explorer. During the 2008 financial crisis, when cash was king, the big banks — JP Morgan Chase, for example — became more prominent and more pervasive. In a similar fashion, the present pandemic is making big tech bigger. And it is not just that their coffers are overflowing coffers. They suddenly have a much larger and more receptive audience.
Last week, we saw the mid-pandemic report record results for Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Google, and Facebook. Spoiler alert: they’re not exactly suffering. Microsoft saw its revenues go up to $35 billion for the quarter, compared to $30.5 billion for the same quarter in 2019. Amazon’s revenues came in over $75 billion. Even with a shutdown, Apple reported earnings of $58 billion. You get the drift.
Even with worsening economic conditions over the next year or so, these companies are likely to come out big winners.
The startup ecosystem might contract. But overall, this is a big moment for technology, and it’s only going to get bigger.
If you live long enough, you experience enough downturns to develop at least one of two things: mental resilience or post-traumatic stress disorder.
Over the past few months, we have experienced the mainstreaming of technology-enabled behavior previously thought of as being on the fringe. Shopping for groceries online and having them delivered, for example, was something of coastal luxury. Now, it has been experienced and used by millions across the country.
growth in telemedicine and online education, two technologies (for lack of a better term) that have been around for so long that we often overlook them
Zoom has 300 million daily participants (which is not the same as users), while Slack has seen as many as 10 million simultaneously connected users. Microsoft’s Slack competitor, Teams, now has more than 75 million daily active users. No matter what, most companies have now experienced “working from home,” and they are unlikely to just return to their old ways. Once we get accustomed to new behaviors, it is hard for us to go back.
Technology became us, and we became technology. If anything, recent history has been focused on fractionalizing what were once luxuries for the top five percent and making them commonplace.
The economic downturn at the beginning of the millennium saw the emergence of broadband connectivity and its pervasiveness. Seven years later, we all embraced the social web, and then the mobile and app revolution. And as the pandemic ravages our social fabric, we are seeing a wholesale digital transformation in a compressed time frame. Each economic setback creates a craving for convenience, and in the long-term, this opens the door for the widespread adoption of technology.
“We have seen two years’ worth of digital transformation in two months,” noted Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella in a call with Wall Street analysts after reporting earnings that were just shy of astounding. Box CEO Aaron Levie noted that “years of IT acceleration being compressed into months.”
Levie also quipped that he had spoken to “multiple Fortune 500 CIOs in the past two days who have been implementing a fundamentally different IT strategy than they would have had a year ago.” They are all thinking more cloud, more digital, and more automation. Others have observed this shift in perspective. In a call with investors, ServiceNow CEO Bill McDermott noted that the pandemic has been an accelerant for digital transformation, which has now become a business imperative.
Together with data, cloud, and automation — companies are going to be looking at a more resilient future, one that sits on top of a network. It is not as if they had a choice. COVID-19 has exposed one harsh truth: digital channels are more flexible and faster to adapt to change than physical channels. And now, the world is almost entirely running on the network. This affirms my long-held beliefs. It is a testament to the inevitability of the Internet, which I wrote about in 2008 — and again in 2013.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mullistaako digitalisaatio sinun työsi?
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/10731-mullistaako-digitalisaatio-sinun-tyosi
Puolet suomalaisista uskoo, että digitalisaatio tulee muuttamaan heidän nykyistä työnkuvaansa tulevaisuudessa, selviää asiantuntijapalveluita tarjoavan Azets Insightin tutkimuksesta. Joka kolmas arvelee, ettei omaa työnkuvaa ole olemassa sellaisenaan 10 vuoden kuluttua.
Tuoreen tutkimuksen mukaan 65 prosenttia suomalaisista uskoo digitalisaation muuttavan omaa työtä ja työnkuvaa tulevaisuudessa. Monet kokevat, että digitalisaation aiheuttamat muutokset ovat jo nähtävillä: reilusti yli puolet suomalaisista kertoo, että digitalisaatio on jo vaikuttanuit oman työpaikan toimintaan (60 %) sekä omaan toimenkuvaan ja työtehtäviin (55 %).
Suomalaiset näkevät digitalisaation ennen kaikkea mahdollisuutena kehittää ja monipuolistaa omaa työnkuvaa. Enemmistö (55 %) suomalaisista uskookin, että digitalisaatio tulee viemään työstä puuduttavimman osuuden. 40 prosenttia vastaajista myös uskoo, että älykkäät robotit luovat mahdollisuuksia kehittää omaa työtä siten, että tekijä pystyy keskittymään monipuolisempiin, vaativampiin ja enemmän arvoa luoviin työtehtäviin. Digitalisaation uskotaan myös muuttavan omaa työtehtävää ensisijaisesti tehokkaammaksi, paikasta riippumattomaksi ja helpommaksi.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Many companies have responded to COVID-19 with innovative pivots that push them into new markets. Instead of shutting down or taking a break, these large companies are making big transformations to stay alive and stay relevant.
10 Examples Of How COVID-19 Forced Business Transformation
http://on.forbes.com/61881APKk
From small startups to large corporations, no one has been spared the wrath of the coronavirus pandemic. The worldwide crisis has nearly shut down entire industries and forced companies of all sizes to adapt and evolve. The one silver lining could be that organizations are forced to expedite their use of technology to make employees and customers’ lives easier and better. One exercise you can do is to imagine if there was *no* retail location for your business; would it survive? Many companies have now had to ask themselves that question, and the answer is no.
While technology can greatly aid businesses of all kinds that are not prepared for an increasingly digital future, not all transformations right now depend entirely on technology. Many companies have responded with innovative pivots that push them into new markets. Instead of shutting down or taking a break, these large companies are making big transformations to stay alive and stay relevant.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Key Drivers In New Chip Industry Outlook
CEOs and analysts examine winners and losers and where demand is shifting.
https://semiengineering.com/key-drivers-in-new-chip-industry-outlook/
How well the semiconductor industry fares over the next 12 to 24 months depends upon the evolution of a virus. That alone will determine the correct model for an economic rebound — V, U, extended U, or maybe even a double U.
But what’s also becoming clear is those models don’t apply uniformly to all sectors or sub-sectors. From a high level, the entire semiconductor industry will be affected, but not all sectors will be affected equally. For example, consumer electronics sales have boomed since the start of shutdowns, especially in the area of webcams and gaming. Automotive sales, meanwhile, have slumped, and the planned rollout for 5G has been pushed out at varying levels across multiple regions.
Current models range from 6% positive growth in 2020 to 28% decline in some segments, depending upon the length of the impact, the liquidity of markets over that time, how many more shutdowns there will be, and how quickly consumer confidence rebounds. None of this is clear at this point, and no one is quite certain when it will be.
“Opinions are all over the place,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://cloud.google.com/future-cloud-computing/#form-report&utm_source=techmeme&utm_medium_c=paidasset&utm_campaign=FY19-Q4-americas-demandgen-assetsyndication-wd-GCP_ICM_FutureComputing_Northam&utm_content=futurecomputing
Tomi Engdahl says:
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft says there’s been a 75% YoY jump in time spent in Windows 10, and Windows 10X, originally pitched for dual-screen devices, is coming first to laptops — More people are turning to Windows PCs during the pandemic — Microsoft is confirming today that it’s planning to refocus Windows 10X on single-screen devices.
Microsoft confirms Windows 10X is coming to laptops amid big jump in Windows usage
More people are turning to Windows PCs during the pandemic
https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/4/21246561/microsoft-windows-10x-single-screens-windows-usage-demand-coronavirus-pandemic
Microsoft is confirming today that it’s planning to refocus Windows 10X on single-screen devices. “The world is a very different place than it was last October when we shared our vision for a new category of dual-screen Windows devices,” explains Panos Panay, Microsoft’s Windows and devices chief. “With Windows 10X, we designed for flexibility, and that flexibility has enabled us to pivot our focus toward single-screen Windows 10X devices that leverage the power of the cloud to help our customers work, learn and play in new ways.”
Microsoft isn’t saying exactly when single-screen devices like laptops will support Windows 10X, nor when dual-screen devices will launch with the OS. However, Windows 10X will launch on single-screen devices first. “We will continue to look for the right moment, in conjunction with our OEM partners, to bring dual-screen devices to market,” says Panay.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Kim Lyons / The Verge:
Google is integrating Meet with Gmail for non-G Suite customers, with some users already seeing a link to launch Meet from Gmail’s sidebar — Google Meet zooms into Gmail, starting a houseparty with its other messaging services — Google has wasted no time integrating its Meet videoconferencing …
Google Meet starts rolling out in Gmail, continuing Google’s quest to unseat Zoom
Google Meet zooms into Gmail, starting a houseparty with its other messaging services
https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/4/21246277/google-meet-gmail-zoom-hangouts
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/10734-vallankumouksellinen-nram-markkinoille-tana-vuonna
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mullistava suomalainen ohjelmointityökalu sai lisärahoituksen
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/10733-mullistava-suomalainen-ohjelmointityokalu-sai-lisarahoituksen
Suomalainen ohjelmistoyritys AppGyver on kerännyt kaksi miljoonaa euroa lisärahoitusta Karma Venturesin ja OpenOceanin johdolla. Sen turvin yhtiö jatkaa mullistavan työkalunsa kehittämistä ja avittaa myös sen kansainvälistä tunnettuutta.
AppGyver kehitti työkalujaan neljän vuoden ajan kaikessa hiljaisuudessa. Huhtikuussa se vihdoin astui julkisuuteen kovalla väitteellä: työkaluilla voidaan tehdä ammattimaisia sovelluksia kirjoittamatta rivikään koodia.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Korona kiihdytti tietokonekauppaa
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/10730-korona-kiihdytti-tietokonekauppaa
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mullistaako digitalisaatio sinun työsi?
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/10731-mullistaako-digitalisaatio-sinun-tyosi
Tomi Engdahl says:
Is Chip Embargo aimed at China, Huawei, TSMC or all three?
https://semiwiki.com/semiconductor-services/semiconductor-advisors/285374-is-chip-embargo-aimed-at-chinahuaweitsmc-or-all-three/
Is TSMC the real target, not just collateral damage?
Is equipment embargo threat to bring TSMC to heel?
Is an embargo a “Trifecta” of US strategic goals?
Maybe TSMC is a real target of chip equipment embargo not just potential collateral damage
It occurs to us when we talk about TSMC being caught in the middle between the US and China and being “collateral damage” in the crossfire of an embargo and trade war that maybe the US is really targeting TSMC, along with China and Huawei, and really killing three birds with one embargo stone.
Think about TSMC from a US perspective…..they have blown past beloved Intel in terms of technology dominance and clearly enabling AMD and others. They are building chips for the US’s enemies both military and commercial. They have in essence put US foundries out of business, GloFo, Intel’s foundry effort among others, and forced the US to buy all advanced chips from them with no alternate. They are getting a “bear hug” from their bigger nearby neighbor who covets them and could crush the US technologically by taking them over. And last, but not least, TSMC has refused US efforts to get them to either put a fab in the US or help with one such that the US chip supply would be protected from a hostile takeover.
Tomi Engdahl says:
List of Top 12 Remote Work Software for Online Collaboration
https://financesonline.com/remote-work/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=FB_ad&utm_campaign=Remote+Work+v1+best+categories+lookalike&utm_content=Europe-mem
Tomi Engdahl says:
2020’s Perfect Storm: Wi-Fi 6, BLE, and AI?
The debut of Wi-Fi 6 and the explosion of AI hardware, networks, and tools will open new markets and spur future technology trends.
https://www.mwrf.com/technologies/systems/article/21130447/2020s-perfect-storm-wifi-6-ble-and-ai?utm_source=RF+MWRF+Update&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=CPS200430025&o_eid=7211D2691390C9R&rdx.ident%5Bpull%5D=omeda%7C7211D2691390C9R&oly_enc_id=7211D2691390C9R
The innovations of connectivity and AI are about to shift into full gear as new advances—edge computing, Wi-Fi 6, and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) v5.2, to name a few—arrive in full force. These developments are quite significant. Wi-Fi 6 will improve robustness and performance, while Bluetooth audio sharing will make it possible for multiple consumers to personally enjoy the audio of a single device. In addition, edge computing will give a significant boost to the Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT).
This is a win-win for those wishing to utilize these technologies, but not everyone will feel like a winner in 2020. The year could bring hardship to AI hardware startups that have risen up after years of long-term and highly intensive R&D. In many ways, this process has led to incredible results, including complex, high-value products. But those products also bring forth a strong patent portfolio, which can act as landmines to competitors. Many firms have failed to keep up, inevitably leading to a decline—and soon, a contraction—within the space.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Tech Jobs in the Time of COVID
https://spectrum.ieee.org/view-from-the-valley/at-work/tech-careers/tech-jobs-in-the-time-of-covid
While it will be hard to have a real sense of the impact of the coronavirus and stay-at-home orders until mid-year tech job statistics are in, job search firm Dice unpacked its usual first quarter report on changes in the engineering job market to try to identify early effects.
The firm compared demand for the months of February and March, and discovered that, in many U.S. regions, overall demand for tech professionals jumped when the coronavirus began impacting our daily lives. According to Dice’s report, Silicon Valley saw double digit growth in job postings between February and March—likely due to demand for “products and services vital to remote work and life, from messaging software to email and cloud platforms.”
The biggest jump was seen in the cybersecurity category, which was up 20 percent over the period. Growth in demand for .NET developers and Systems engineers also saw a double-digit jump. Front end developers, by contrast, faced a significant drop in job postings, likely, reported Dice, because employers are cutting back on new projects to focus on their core products and infrastructure.
Specific tech skills in demand also changed significantly as companies responded to the coronavirus pandemic. Demand for engineers with Ruby expertise fell a dramatic 30 percent, and demand for those with Web development skills dropped 25 percent. Postings seeking experts in Git, Microsoft C#, and JavaScript also fell.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nikkei Asian Review:
Profile of Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida, who fought activist investor pressure to spin off image sensors business, as the pandemic clouds new PlayStation launch
Sony CEO Yoshida navigates coronavirus and activist attacks
https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Cover-Story/Sony-CEO-Yoshida-navigates-coronavirus-and-activist-attacks
New PlayStation launch clouded by pandemic as company seeks to revive innovation
Tomi Engdahl says:
Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:
Firefox 76 arrives with password management improvements, including site breach alerts, and support for Audio Worklets, which are used by Zoom
Firefox 76 arrives with password management and Zoom improvements
https://venturebeat.com/2020/05/05/mozilla-firefox-76/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
GitHub announces new features, including Codespaces, a free cloud-based developer environment now in beta that’s based on Microsoft’s Visual Studio Code editor — Under different
GitHub gets a built-in IDE with Codespaces, discussion forums and more
https://techcrunch.com/2020/05/06/github-gets-a-built-in-ide-with-codespaces-discussion-forums-and-more/
The highlight of GitHub’s announcement is surely the launch of GitHub Codespaces, which gives developers a full cloud-hosted development environment in the cloud, based on Microsoft’s VS Code editor. If that name sounds familiar, that’s likely because Microsoft itself rebranded Visual Studio Code Online to Visual Studio Codespaces a week ago — and GitHub is essentially taking the same concepts and technology and is now integrating it directly inside its service. If you’ve seen VS Online/Codespaces before, the GitHub environment will look very similar.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Inkscape 1.0 Released For GNU/Linux, Windows, And macOS
https://fossbytes.com/inkscape-1-0-released-for-gnu-linux-windows-macos/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Seuraava Windows 10 -päivitys on ilouutinen kiintolevyllisen pc:n omistajille
https://www.is.fi/digitoday/art-2000006496858.html?ref=rss
Kiintolevyllisiä koneita hidastava indeksointitoiminto ei jatkossa lisää koneen kuormitusta raskaan käytön aikana.
Windows 10 on saamassa tulevassa suurpäivityksessään parannuksia erityisesti kiintolevyjen käsittelyyn. Tulevassa May 2020 Updatessa keskitytään erityisesti käyttöjärjestelmän suorituskyvyn parantamiseen, kertoo Windows Latest.
Windows 10 is getting faster in next feature update
https://www.windowslatest.com/2020/04/27/windows-10-is-getting-faster-in-next-feature-update/
Tomi Engdahl says:
IBM and Red Hat expand their telco, edge and AI enterprise offerings
https://techcrunch.com/2020/05/04/ibm-and-red-hat-expand-their-telco-edge-and-ai-enterprise-offerings/
As IBM’s recently minted president Jim Whitehurst told me ahead of today’s announcement, he believes that IBM (in combination with Red Hat) is able to offer enterprises a very differentiated service because, unlike the large hyper clouds, IBM isn’t interested in locking these companies into a homogeneous cloud.
Later in our discussion, he argued that the large public clouds essentially force enterprises to fit their workloads to those clouds’ service. “The public clouds do extraordinary things and they’re great partners of ours, but their primary business is creating these homogeneous services, at massive volumes, and saying ‘if your workloads fit into this, we can run it better, faster, cheaper etc.’ And they have obviously expanded out. They’ve added services. They are not saying we can put a box on-premise, but you’re still fitting into their model.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.anandtech.com/show/15773/amd-announces-ryzen-pro-4000-for-mobile?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook
On the back of AMD’s successful Ryzen Mobile 4000 series launch for consumer laptops, the company today launching its range of commercial processors from the same family. These processors are designed for the standard commercial verticals typically associated with company contracts, education deployments, medical use cases and any environment that requires a level of manageability across its workforce. The new AMD processors have up to eight of the latest Zen 2 cores, up to Vega 7 compute graphics, and are built on the latest TSMC 7nm process node technology.
Tomi Engdahl says:
MongoDB and Rockset link arms to figure out SQL-to-NoSQL application integration
NoSQL, no problem for Facebook-originating RocksDB
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/05/07/mongodb_rockset_collab/
MongoDB and fellow database biz Rockset have integrated products in a bid to make it easier to work with the NoSQL database through standard relational database query language SQL.
The joint development is designed to make MongoDB – a NoSQL, document-oriented database – much more painless for developers to interrogate in applications that perform SQL Joins, for example.
This has, so far, been difficult: Essentially, schema-less MongoDB does not support SQL Joins, a way of combining records of tables using SQL, although there are ways to get around the problem.
The Rockset-MongoDB integration claims to solve Joins problem.
“Rockset replicates MongoDB data and builds an external index on that data in real time,” a Rockset spokeswoman told The Register.
“We use a modern approach to building our index that we call Converged Indexing which combines the benefits of a search index and a columnar index in a single system. This indexing approach has two remarkable properties – it requires no configuration ahead of time and accelerates a wide spectrum of data retrieval patterns out of the box. We’ve also built a new distributed SQL query engine along with a query optimizer that exploits the speed ups delivered by converged indexing.”
MongoDB gained popularity in the mid-2010s within web applications by helping to provide personalised content without developers worrying too much about database schema. It is used in mobile, web, gaming, IoT and other applications by companies including PayPal, Google and Facebook.
Tomi Engdahl says:
C nousi taas ohjelmointikielten ykköseksi
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/10744-c-nousi-taas-ohjelmointikielten-ykkoseksi
Tiobe on julkistanut suosituimpien ohjelmointikielten listauksen toukokuulta. Listan kärkeen nousi C. Edellisen kerran C oli suosituin kieli koodaajien parissa vuonna 2015.
Java ja C olivat jo hyvin lähellä toisiaan huhtikuussa, mutta toukokuussa C meni viimein Javan ohi. Tiobe-indeksin laatijat osaavat vain arvailla, miksi kärkisijan pitäjä nyt vaihtui. Yllättävää kyllä, yksi syy saattaa olla koronavirus.
Ajatus voi tuntua typerältä, mutta jotkut ohjelmointikielet todella hyötyvät tästä tilanteesta. Esimerkkejä ovat Python ja R datatieteiden alalla, koska kaikki etsivät viruksen vasta-aineita. Mutta myös sulautetut ohjelmistokielet, kuten C ja C ++, ovat kasvussa, koska niitä käytetään lääketieteellisten laitteiden ohjelmistoissa.
https://www.tiobe.com/tiobe-index/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Why set an arbitrary end date to end working frim home? If working in an office isn’t necessary it shouldn’t be done. Employers should get a tax credit for every man/month their employees work from home. Maybe also require them to pay an additional hour per day in commute time. That’ll change things real fast, clean up the environment, lower road maintenance costs and make employees more productive.
When your entire company infrastructure is based on a computer screen you can do this
Tomi Engdahl says:
Chiplets Promise to put Moore’s Law Back on Track
https://www.3dincites.com/2020/05/chiplets-promise-to-put-moores-law-back-on-track/
Moore’s Law may not be dead, but at 55 years old, it’s certainly feeling its age, with the pace of semiconductor manufacturing advancement decelerating in recent years. However, a new approach to semiconductor design and integration has arrived: the chiplet, which promises to help restore the microchip industry to its historic rate of advancement.
The global market for processor microchips that utilize chiplets in their manufacturing process is set to expand to $5.8 billion in 2024, rising by a factor of nine from $645 million in 2018, according to the market research firm, Omdia.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Liam Tung / ZDNet:
HackerEarth survey: 32% of 16K+ experienced developers pick Google’s Go as the programming language they want to learn, followed by Python at 24% — But they are over having meetings, and most of them working for large enterprise aren’t happy with their job.
Developers say Google’s Go is ‘most sought after’ programming language of 2020
https://www.zdnet.com/article/developers-say-googles-go-is-most-sought-after-programming-language-of-2020/
But they are over having meetings, and most of them working for large enterprise aren’t happy with their job.
Lots of developers really want to learn Go, a programming language for large systems created by Google, meanwhile most developers are sick of attending meetings, and most of those working at multinational corporations aren’t happy there.
Go comes out top of the languages most developers want to know. The survey finds that 32% of experienced developers pick Go as the programming language they want to learn, well ahead of Python, which 24% say they want to learn.
The desire for learning Go lines up with the results of a similar survey by remote developer hiring firm HackerRank. Go is used at Google, Netflix, American Express, Salesforce, IBM, Target, Twitch, Twitter, Uber, and Dropbox.
The Go project’s 2019 survey found that most developers are using the language for web development, followed by database development, network programming, systems programming, and DevOps. Microsoft’s Visual Studio Code (VS Code) is the most widely used code editor among Go developers.
Tomi Engdahl says:
ICYMI: A major change will rejigger the balance of power in PC power supplies for the first time in 20 years.
How Intel is changing the future of power supplies with its ATX12VO spec
https://www.pcworld.com/article/3518831/how-intels-changing-the-future-of-power-supplies-with-its-atx12vo-spec.html
A major change will rejigger the balance of power in PC power supplies for the first time in 20 years.
We don’t often talk about power supplies, but Intel’s new ATX12VO spec—that’s an ‘O’ for ‘Oscar,’ not a zero—will start appearing soon in pre-built PCs from OEMs and system integrators, and it represents a major change in PSU design.
The ATX12VO spec removes voltage rails from the power supply, all in a bid to improve efficiency standards on the PC and meet stringent government regulations. But while the spec essentially removes +3.3-volt, +5-volt and -12-volt and +5-volt standby power from the PSU, they aren’t going away—they’re just moving to the motherboard.
Don’t take my ATX12V power supply away!
Don’t panic, DIYers: The PSU Enforcement Agents will not be coming to take away your 1,500-watt ATX PSU (there’s no such thing as PSU police anyway). ATX12VO is currently aimed mostly at PC OEMs and system vendors—some of whom have already started down this path on their own.
ATX12VO won’t be replacing ATX12V for individual PC builders. “Intel plans to continue to publish the ATX Multi Rail spec to maintain compatibility with existing motherboards and power supplies to provide the most options for our OEMs and customers,” Intel officials told PCWorld.
Why kick 3.3 volts and 5 volts to the curb?
we can see voltages have trended away from 3.3- and 5.5-volt use toward 12-volt
The 2006 PSU operated at 78-percent efficiency, while the 2016 PSU has a 98-percent efficiency rating. That means the 2006 PSU would have to consume about 127 watts of AC from the wall to generate about 99 watts, while the 2016 PSU would consume about 100 watts to produce 98 watts of power.
Because ATX12VO removes so many rails, the thick 24-pin Main Power Connector would drastically drop down to a tiny 10-pin connector
This efficiency gain is the main reason for the push toward ATX12VO.
“Existing ATX multi-rail power supplies (5V, 3.3V, 12V, -12V, 5VSB) are not very efficient at low loads of today’s desktop computers when at idle,” according to Intel. Because the multi-rail power supply is sending very low current to all voltage rails, efficiency is just 50 percent to 60 percent.
The new ATX12VO spec significantly improves that efficiency. “By converting to a single rail power supply,” Intel explains, “the conversion losses can be minimized, reaching up to 75 percent efficiency at the same DC Load levels.”
While increased efficiency means less power used and less money going to the power company
Although you might expect California’s CEC to focus mostly on how much power a desktop or workstation burns under load, regulators are actually focusing on increasing idle and standby efficiency, which they believe yields the most benefit for power savings. The assumption is that desktops are idle far more than they are under load.
One power supply maker told PCWorld that the move to ATX12VO should make PSUs “drastically” cheaper to build.
“5V is still largely used,” Gerow explained. “It’s what powers your SSDs, your USB ports and all of your RGB lighting.” .
Rather than being a small circuit board in a PSU, 3.3-volt and 5-volt power will be integrated into the motherboard.
“You can scale the +3.3V and +5V for exactly what the build needs and no more than that,”
Motherboard vendors whom PCWorld tapped for comment seemed largely optimistic about ATX12VO. One told PCWorld the move would let a motherboard better manage the power sequence during boot-ups, which can get sticky when a non-standard PSU is used.
Vendord also said having the voltage on the board could lead to better over-current and over-voltage protection.
Still, our motherboard sources said, moving both the rails and the power connectors to the motherboard means a greater burden of components, a larger PCB, and more PCB layers, meaning more complexity and more cost.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Benedict Evans:
A look at what could be holding back VR, as a breakthrough moment seems unlikely to materialize despite ripe conditions and nearly a decade of big bets on VR — We tried VR in the 1980s, and it didn’t work. The idea may have been great, but the technology of the day was nowhere close to delivering it …
The VR winter
https://www.ben-evans.com/benedictevans/2020/5/8/the-vr-winter
“Our vision is that VR / AR will be the next major computing platform after mobile in about 10 years. It can be even more ubiquitous than mobile – especially once we reach AR – since you can have it always on… Once you have a good VR / AR system, you no longer need to buy phones or TVs or many other physical objects – they can just become apps in a digital store.’ – Mark Zuckerberg, 2015 (Source)
We tried VR in the 1980s, and it didn’t work. The idea may have been great, but the technology of the day was nowhere close to delivering it, and almost everyone forgot about it. Then, in 2012, we realised that this might work now. Moore’s law and the smartphone component supply chain meant that the hardware to deliver the vision was mostly there on the shelf. Since then we’ve gone from the proof of concept to maybe three quarters of the way towards a really great mass-market consumer device.
However, we haven’t worked out what you would do with a great VR device beyond games (or some very niche industrial application), and it’s not clear that we will. We’ve had five years of experimental projects and all sorts of content has been tried, and nothing other than games has really worked.
Meanwhile, it’s instructive that now that we’re all locked up at home, video calls have become a huge consumer phenomenon, but VR has been not. This should have been a VR moment, and it isn’t.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Light-emitting silicon
Researchers from the Eindhoven University of Technology, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Johannes Kepler University, and Technische Universität München developed a silicon germanium alloy that can emit light, paving the way for a silicon laser that could be integrated for on-chip and chip-to-chip communication.
Bulk silicon is extremely inefficient at emitting light, leading to the use of semiconductors like gallium arsenide and indium phosphide. These, however, are more expensive than silicon and difficult to integrate.
https://semiengineering.com/power-performance-bits-may-11/
To create a silicon-compatible laser, the researchers combined silicon and germanium in a hexagonal structure that is able to emit light.
“The crux is in the nature of the so-called band gap of a semiconductor,”
https://www.tue.nl/en/news/news-overview/08-04-2020-eindhoven-researchers-present-revolutionary-light-emitting-silicon/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Which Chip Interconnect Protocol Is Better?
https://semiengineering.com/which-chip-interconnect-protocol-is-better/
Experts at the Table: CXL and CCIX are different, but it’s not always clear which is the best choice.
Tomi Engdahl says:
TSMC remains 3rd-largest IC supplier worldwide
https://focustaiwan.tw/business/202005090007
During the January to March period, Apple Inc. and HiSilicon Technologies Co. of China, placed a large number of orders for TSMC’s 7nm processors for smartphones, IC Insights said.
It said HiSilicon, which is owned by Chinese telecom equipment supplier Huawei Technologies Co., has become a major TSMC client, accounting for 14 percent of TSMC’s total sales in 2019, up from 5 percent in 2017.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Chiplets: The New Era Begins
https://www.3dincites.com/2020/05/chiplets-the-new-era-begins/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Linux not Windows: Why Munich is shifting back from Microsoft to open source – again
https://www.zdnet.com/article/linux-not-windows-why-munich-is-shifting-back-from-microsoft-to-open-source-again/?ftag=COS-05-10aaa0h&utm_campaign=trueAnthem%3A+Trending+Content&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=facebook
Munich’s flip-flop back to open source is the latest sign of Germany’s political sea change over proprietary software.
In a notable U-turn for the city, newly elected politicians in Munich have decided that its administration needs to use open-source software, instead of proprietary products like Microsoft Office.
“Where it is technologically and financially possible, the city will put emphasis on open standards and free open-source licensed software,” a new coalition agreement negotiated between the recently elected Green party and the Social Democrats says.
The agreement was finalized Sunday and the parties will be in power until 2026. “We will adhere to the principle of ‘public money, public code’. That means that as long as there is no confidential or personal data involved, the source code of the city’s software will also be made public,” the agreement states.
Tomi Engdahl says:
TSMC to build a $12 billion advanced semiconductor plant in Arizona with U.S. government support
https://tcrn.ch/3bznrcr
The plant, scheduled to start production of chips in 2024, will enable TSMC’s American customers to fabricate their semiconductor products domestically. It will use the company’s 5-nanometer technology and is expected to create 1,600 jobs and have the capacity to produce 20,000 wafers a month.
Tomi Engdahl says:
System-on-Chip Disintegration is Underway
https://www.3dincites.com/2020/05/system-on-chip-disintegration-is-underway/
We have known for some time that with scaling coming to an end the industry would need to find another way to continue moving forward. One of the options is known as SoC disintegration, which is when a system-on-chip (SoC) is disintegrated into its functional parts and then connect these “chiplets” back together. Chiplets are not simply small chips. They cannot be used by themselves but are specifically intended to be interconnected together to build complete functionality. Thus, it is better to think of chiplets as a silicon IP (intellectual property) subsystem, designed to integrate with other chiplets through advanced package interconnect (usually micro bumps) and standardized interfaces. Building chips from pre-verified chiplets is beginning to gain traction as a way of cutting costs and reducing time to market for heterogeneous designs.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Intel’s Profits Propelled 40% by Demand in Cloud Data Centers
https://www.electronicdesign.com/industrial-automation/article/21130638/intels-profits-propelled-40-by-demand-in-cloud-data-centers?utm_source=EG+ED+IoT+for+Engineers&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=CPS200508057&o_eid=7211D2691390C9R&rdx.ident%5Bpull%5D=omeda%7C7211D2691390C9R&oly_enc_id=7211D2691390C9R
Intel said sales of its server processors would remain robust in the second quarter of 2020 as more businesses look to keep workforces running remotely by renting out services over the cloud. But it faces more uncertainty in the second half of the year.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Original Zork MDL Source Code Has Been Released
https://hackaday.com/2020/05/12/original-zork-mdl-source-code-has-been-released/
Though mostly known for its releases on countless 8-bit personal computers from the 1970s and 1980s, the game of Zork began its life on a PDP-10 mainframe. Recently, MIT released the original source code for this version of Zork. As we covered a while ago, the history of Zork is a long and lustrous one, a history that is based on this initial version written in MDL.
What MIT has made available is the source code from Zork as it existed around 1977, at a time when it was being distributed to universities around the US. For purely educational purposes, obviously. This means that it’s a version of Zork before it was commercialized (~1979), showing a rare glimpse of the game as it was still busily being expanded.
Running the game will take a bit of effort, however. These files were retrieved from an original MIT backup tape that was used with their PDP-10 machines. Ideally one would use a 1970s-era PDP-10 mainframe with an MDL compiler, but in a pinch one could run a PDP-10 emulator as well.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Reuters:
US bans sales to Huawei of semiconductors and semiconductor designs made abroad using certain US software and technology — WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Trump administration on Friday moved to block shipments of semiconductors to Huawei Technologies from global chipmakers, in an action that could ramp up tensions with China.
U.S. moves to cut Huawei off from global chip suppliers as China eyes retaliation
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-huawei-tech-exclusive/exclusive-us-moves-to-cut-huawei-off-from-global-chip-suppliers-idUSKBN22R1KC
The Trump administration on Friday moved to block global chip supplies to blacklisted telecoms equipment giant Huawei Technologies, spurring fears of Chinese retaliation and hammering shares of U.S. producers of chipmaking equipment.
A new rule, unveiled by the Commerce Department and first reported by Reuters, expands U.S. authority to require licenses for sales to Huawei of semiconductors made abroad with U.S. technology, vastly expanding its reach to halt exports to the world’s No. 2 smartphone maker.
“This action puts America first, American companies first, and American national security first,” a senior Commerce Department official told reporters in a telephone briefing on Friday.
Huawei, the world’s top telecoms equipment maker, did not respond to a request for comment.
The department said the rule is aimed at preventing Huawei from continuing to “undermine” its status as a blacklisted company, meaning suppliers of U.S.-made sophisticated technology must seek a U.S. government license before selling to it.
“This is a licensing requirement. It does not necessarily mean that things are denied,” the official said, adding that the rule gives the U.S. government greater “visibility” into the shipments. “What are done with those applications, we’ll have to see … Each application will be judged on its merits.”
After essentially barring Huawei from buying from U.S. suppliers, the Commerce Department granted licenses to some of Huawei’s biggest U.S. partners to continue to sell to the company, while also allowing smaller rural telecoms companies to continue to purchase Huawei equipment to keep their networks up and running.
Huawei, which needs semiconductors for its smartphones and telecoms equipment, has found itself at the heart of a battle for global technological dominance between the United States and China
Tomi Engdahl says:
Brian Heater / TechCrunch:
NPD: consumer spending on video gaming in the US hit a record $10.86B between January and March, up 9% YoY, with sales from video game content up 11% to $9.58B — New numbers from NPD confirm what we’ve known for a while: the first quarter of 2020 was a very good one for gaming companies.
https://techcrunch.com/2020/05/15/us-video-game-sales-have-record-quarter-as-consumers-stay-at-home/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nvidia’s bleeding-edge Ampere GPU architecture revealed: 5 things PC gamers need to know
Nvidia’s next-gen GPU architecture is finally here.
https://www.pcworld.com/article/3543834/nvidia-ampere-gpu-architecture-reveal-geforce-pc-gamers.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Facebook’s Messenger Rooms is now available for video chats with anyone
The group video chatting feature launched globally Thursday, and you don’t need a Facebook account to join in.
https://www.cnet.com/news/facebooks-messenger-rooms-is-now-available-for-video-chats-with-anyone/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Unreal Engine 5 Revealed! | Next-Gen Real-Time Demo Running on PlayStation 5
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qC5KtatMcUw&feature=share
Unreal Engine 5 empowers artists to achieve unprecedented levels of detail and interactivity, and brings these capabilities within practical reach of teams of all sizes through highly productive tools and content libraries.
A first look at Unreal Engine 5
https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/blog/a-first-look-at-unreal-engine-5
Tomi Engdahl says:
Meet 90-year-old Hamako Mori, the world’s oldest video game YouTuber
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/19/tech/japan-oldest-gamer-intl-hnk-scli/index.html?utm_source=twCNN&utm_medium=social&utm_content=2020-05-19T08%3A00%3A10&utm_term=link
Hamako Mori, known as “Gamer Grandma” to her 250,000 YouTube subscribers, started gaming 39 years ago. Her YouTube channel launched in 2015, and she posts up to four videos a month.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://techcrunch.com/2020/05/19/xilinx-launches-a-new-reconfigurable-space-grade-chip-optimized-for-local-machine-learning-on-orbit/?tpcc=ECFB2020