Lexar SL500 1TB Portable SSD Review - The best of native USB

Lexar SL500 1TB Portable SSD Review - The best of native USB

Lexar's SL500 portable SSD is the best we've encountered. It offers the speed, compatibility, and portability that only SM2320-controlled devices can.

US prosecutors are investigating Tesla for securities and wire fraud

Jak Connor | Business, Financial & Legal | May 8, 2024 7:44 AM CDT

Reports indicate that Tesla is being investigated by US prosecutors for any possible evidence of committing securities and wire fraud.

US prosecutors are investigating Tesla for securities and wire fraud

The examination of the company by US prosecutors is to find evidence of Tesla committing securities and wire fraud by misleading consumers and investors with Tesla's self driving capabilities found within its electric car line-up.

The two technologies, Tesla's Full Self-Driving system, and the Autopilot system, have been a point of conjecture for quite some time, as some regulatory bodies have argued the naming of the technologies is misleading due to the features not providing full autonomy, as Tesla still requires drivers to periodically place their hands on the wheel and be ready to take back over when necessary.

Continue reading: US prosecutors are investigating Tesla for securities and wire fraud (full post)

FTX says it has billions of dollars more than it needs to fully repay customers

Jak Connor | Cryptocurrency & Mining | May 8, 2024 7:22 AM CDT

Defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX, which was headed by the now-convicted Sam Bankman-Fried, has said that it will have more than enough money to pay back all of its customers.

FTX says it has billions of dollars more than it needs to fully repay customers

In March 2024, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), the co-founder of FTX, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for defrauding customers and investors with the investment firm. FTX entered into a Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan after the firm collapsed in November 2022. The result was SBF being arrested and John J. Ray III, an attorney who specializes in recovering funds from failed corporations, being brought on as chief executive of FTX.

Ray has since said that he is pleased the company is now in a position to "propose a Chapter 11 plan that contemplates the return of 100% of bankruptcy claim amounts plus interest for non-governmental creditors". Notably, the plan will still have to be approved by a US bankruptcy court, and FTX is currently still in the process of recovering all lost funds with no date on completion being mentioned in reports.

Continue reading: FTX says it has billions of dollars more than it needs to fully repay customers (full post)

Scientists announce breakthrough discovery of a whale 'alphabet'

Jak Connor | Science, Space, Health & Robotics | May 8, 2024 3:15 AM CDT

Researchers have penned a new study called the "Contextual and Combinatorial Structure in Sperm Whale Vocalizations" and it details a new "alphabet" that has been discovered.

Scientists announce breakthrough discovery of a whale 'alphabet'

Scientists from MIT CSAIL and Project CETI state they have developed a breakthrough in understanding cetacean communication. Notably, cetaceans include the following species: whales, dolphins, and porpoises. So, what did they do? The team took what is called codas, which are a series of different linguistic vocalizations that have been studied for decades, and applied machine learning technologies to decipher what is being "said."

According to reports, the research took 8,719 sperm whale codas there was collected by researcher Shane Gero from time spent off the coast of Dominica, a small Caribbean Island, and applied them to a machine learning algorithm while also factoring in contextual details through implementing music terminology.

Continue reading: Scientists announce breakthrough discovery of a whale 'alphabet' (full post)

CPU shipments experienced 33% growth in Q1 2024 compared to last year

Kosta Andreadis | CPU, APU & Chipsets | May 7, 2024 11:01 PM CDT

The global client-based CPU market showed impressive growth in Q1 2024, with John Peddie Research reporting that shipments hit 62 million units - a 33% increase compared to Q1 2023. However, compared to the previous quarter, this figure represents a 9.4% decrease.

CPU shipments experienced 33% growth in Q1 2024 compared to last year

Even though the dip compared to the previous quarter bucks the recent growth trend, the report notes that the Q1 dip, when viewed with the context of year-over-year growth, "is an indication that the market has stabilized and has returned to its traditional cyclic behavior."

Looking into the numbers more closely, Notebooks and Laptops are driving the growth as desktop market share has declined. A year ago, the split between Notebooks and Desktops was 68% and 32%, with this figure changing to 73% Notebooks and 27% Desktops in Q1 2024. With integrated graphics being a key part of the mobile CPU space, iGPU shipments increased by 30% year-over-year.

Continue reading: CPU shipments experienced 33% growth in Q1 2024 compared to last year (full post)

ASUS plans 14 next-gen ROG, TUF, ProArt laptops with AMD's new Zen 5-based Strix Point APUs

Anthony Garreffa | Laptops | May 7, 2024 10:32 PM CDT

ASUS is going to have a helluva show at Computex 2024 this year, with 14 next-gen ROG, TUF, and ProArt laptops powered by AMD's next-gen Zen 5-based Strix Point APUs.

ASUS plans 14 next-gen ROG, TUF, ProArt laptops with AMD's new Zen 5-based Strix Point APUs

The new leaks are coming from ITHome, which reports that the leaked product page of the new 240W and 180W TOG Compact Plug adapter which lists the new variants. The new "W" models are the next-gen variants with AMD's Zen 5-based Strix Point APUs while the "U" variants are the Ryzen 8040 series "Hawk Point" APUs.

However, since this news hit the web, the new ASUS VivoBook S16 laptops have been teased with CPUs that aren't named in the Ryzen 8050 naming scheme. The new ASUS VivoBook S16 laptop has been teased on the official ASUS website with a CPU called the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 170 processor.

Continue reading: ASUS plans 14 next-gen ROG, TUF, ProArt laptops with AMD's new Zen 5-based Strix Point APUs (full post)

ASUS ROG Zephyrus G16 with 12-Core AMD 'Strix Point' processor and GeForce RTX 4070 coming

Kosta Andreadis | Laptops | May 7, 2024 10:02 PM CDT

The new ASUS Zephyrus G16 will be powered by AMD's new 12-Core next-gen Ryzen "Strix Point" APU, which a South African retailer has leaked. The high-end AI and gaming laptop also comes packed with mobile GeForce RTX 4070 8GB graphics, 32GB of LPDDR5X memory, and a 16-inch WQXGA OLED display. Although regional pricing varies, the listing price is translated to roughly $3,700 USD, so it won't be cheap.

ASUS ROG Zephyrus G16 with 12-Core AMD 'Strix Point' processor and GeForce RTX 4070 coming

The price could be a placeholder, with the final SKU launching at a much lower price point of around $2,000 USD. Based on information from a related ASUS leak, it seems that AMD's next-gen "Strix Point" Ryzen APU featured in the new ASUS Zephyrus G16 will be called the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 170 - a new naming convention from AMD that puts AI front and center.

That leak confirms that the APU features a 12-core, 24-thread CPU that clocks up to 5.1GHz (with 36MB of cache) with AI performance of up to 77 TOPS. Paired with the GeForce RTX 4070, it'll be an impressive machine for any AI or non-AI-related task.

Continue reading: ASUS ROG Zephyrus G16 with 12-Core AMD 'Strix Point' processor and GeForce RTX 4070 coming (full post)

Intel partners with 14 companies in Japan to make new tech, automate semiconductor packaging

Anthony Garreffa | Business, Financial & Legal | May 7, 2024 9:37 PM CDT

Intel has plans to partner with 14 different Japanese companies to develop technology to automate "back-end" chipmaking processes, like advanced packaging.

Intel partners with 14 companies in Japan to make new tech, automate semiconductor packaging

In a new report from Nikkei, the US and Japan are looking to cut geopolitical risks to their semiconductor supply chains. The deal would involve electronics maker Omron, Yamaha Motor, and materials supplier Resonac and Shin-Etsu Polymer, will be led by the head of Intel's Japanese business: Kunimasa Suzuki.

This new group will invest tens of billions of yen (with 10 million yen = $65 million USD or so) that will develop the technologies in a working state by 2028. Nikkei reports that with the advances in front-end operations including circuit formation start to approach their physical limits, competition is brewing in back-end steps like stacking chips to improve performance.

Continue reading: Intel partners with 14 companies in Japan to make new tech, automate semiconductor packaging (full post)

Meta AI boss confirms the company has purchased around $30 billion worth of NVIDIA AI GPUs

Anthony Garreffa | Artificial Intelligence | May 7, 2024 8:46 PM CDT

Meta has purchased 500,000 more AI GPUs for a total of 1 million AI GPUs, which is valued at $30 billion.

Meta AI boss confirms the company has purchased around $30 billion worth of NVIDIA AI GPUs

We're hearing about the gargantuan AI GPU hardware investment from Meta AI boss Yann LeCun at the AI Summit, also saying that upcoming variations of its Llama 3 large language model are on the way. LeCun emphasized the computational limitations and GPU costs as things that are slowing the progression of AI.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman plans to spend $50 billion a year on AGI development (artificial general intelligence) by using 720,000 NVIDIA H100 AI GPUs that cost a hefty $21.6 billion. Microsoft is aiming for 1.8 million AI GPUs by the end of 2024, while OpenAI wants to have 10 million AI GPUs before the end of the year.

Continue reading: Meta AI boss confirms the company has purchased around $30 billion worth of NVIDIA AI GPUs (full post)

Apple's new iPad Pros feature dual OLED displays and are the company's thinnest devices ever

Apple has unveiled the new iPad Pro line-up, powered by the company's new 3-nanometer M4 chip. Available in two sizes, 13-inch and 11-inch, both feature the company's new 6K resolution Ultra Retina XDR display built with OLED technology.

Apple's new iPad Pros feature dual OLED displays and are the company's thinnest devices ever

Each iPad Pro uses two OLED panels to combine the light to "phenomenal full-screen brightness." We're talking 1000 nits of full-screen brightness for SDR and HDR content and 1600 nits of peak brightness for HDR.

"Tandem OLED technology enables sub-millisecond control over the color and luminance of each pixel, taking XDR precision further than ever," Apple writes. "Specular highlights in photos and video appear even brighter, and there's more detail in shadows and low light than ever before on iPad - all while delivering even more responsiveness to content in motion."

Continue reading: Apple's new iPad Pros feature dual OLED displays and are the company's thinnest devices ever (full post)

Lenovo teases AMD's next-gen Ryzen 8050 Strix Point APU inside its ThinkPad T14 Gen 5 laptop

Anthony Garreffa | Laptops | May 7, 2024 8:00 PM CDT

Lenovo has just teased its new ThinkPad T14 Gen 5 laptop with "Ryzen 8050" splashed front and center, which could be one of the earliest Zen 5-based laptops.

Lenovo teases AMD's next-gen Ryzen 8050 Strix Point APU inside its ThinkPad T14 Gen 5 laptop

In the brochure for the ThinkPad T14 Gen 5 laptop, the company has "Ryzen 8050" right in your face, and AMD Ryzen AI technology at bottom. The Ryzen AI tech Lenovo is referring to is the NPU (neural processing unit) for AI workloads, which the Ryzen 8050 "Strix Point" APUs feature an upgraded XDNA2-based NPU for AI workloads.

AMD has its current-gen Ryzen 8040 series "Hawk Point" APUs in the wild now, with an XDNA-based NPU with up to 16 TOPS of AI workload performance from the NPU alone.

Continue reading: Lenovo teases AMD's next-gen Ryzen 8050 Strix Point APU inside its ThinkPad T14 Gen 5 laptop (full post)