Summary of the week of September 27, 2021

[cobito]

New USB offers up to 240W

The USB-C Type 2.1 connector has a capacity of no less than 240W. This power is achieved by raising the voltage to 48V with a nominal current of 5A.

Temperature problems in suspended laptops

Dell XPS laptops with Windows overheat if stored in a case while in suspend mode. The problem is caused by Modern Standby, which does not put the computer to sleep but leaves it in a low-power state (but on).

The cost of AI

This article from IEEE analyzes how the cost of improving a small percentage of neural network accuracy is becoming unsustainable.

The first European RISC-V CPU is born

The European Processor Accelerator is the first European processor that has implemented the RISC-V ISA. It is intended for supercomputing centers, uses the 22nm node, and runs at 1GHz.

All GPU information with GPU-Viewer

GPU-Viewer is a tool for Linux that shows a multitude of details about the graphics card. It uses glxinfo, vulkaninfo, clinfo, and es2_info to obtain the information.

Syberia and Syberia 2 free on Steam

Syberia and Syberia 2 free on Steam for a limited time. Get the first two graphic adventures from Microids on Steam as a preview to the upcoming release of Syberia: The World Before in December.

TSMC wants to move production to India

Just as there has been talk of opening plants in the USA and Europe, TSMC is now negotiating with India to open a 14-28nm chip factory.

The semiconductor shortage will begin to subside in 2022

The CEO of AMD has said that the chip shortage will begin to subside starting in the second half of next year, in part thanks to the commissioning of new plants.

Intel joins the feature payment bandwagon

It seems that Intel is planning to release processors that will be possible to expand features without having to change CPUs by paying for a license. A controller called Intel Software Defined Silicon will be used to unlock the features.

The EFF will stop maintaining HTTPS Everywhere

HTTPS Everywhere is an extension available for the main browsers that tries to connect to sites using HTTPS whenever it is available. The reason for the abandonment is that, according to the EFF, the goal of having most sites only in HTTPS has been achieved.

The iPad Mini 6 has no scroll problems

Owners of the iPad Mini 6 have noticed that scrolling causes the upper half of the screen to move more slowly than the other half. Apple says it is not a failure but a feature.

Silicon Lottery closes its doors

The famous Silicon Lottery store dedicated to selling selected processors specifically for overclocking is shutting down.

Europa Universalis IV is free

Another free game on Epic Games: Europa Universalis IV (2013). Salu2! Jugones!

Intel releases its first 4nm chip

Intel's first 4nm integrated is the Loihi 2. It is a neural network with 128 neuromorphic cores.

Chromebook demand is falling

The golden era that Chromebooks have lived through during the pandemic is coming to an end. Their sales have suffered a sudden drop of 50% from one month to another.

Micron will not increase memory production

Micron (one of the four memory manufacturers that exist) does not want to increase the production of DRAM or NAND chips due to uncertainty in demand.

USB4 and Type-C logos are presented

The USB Implementers Forum has published the logos that will identify devices certified with USB4 (40Gbps) and USB-C (240W).