Category: Technology

Amazon Web Services (AWS) just kicked off its Las Vegas-based re:Invent conference with a stream of announcements, most of which involve the year’s most popular technology, AI. These news items, taken as a whole, give us a sneak peek at the company’s long-term goals for artificial intelligence platforms.

First of all, AWS unveiled its latest-generation of AI chips intended for model training and for running trained models. Trainium2, which is obviously for model training, has been designed to deliver up to 4x better performance and 2x energy efficiency when compared to its forebear. Amazon promises these chips will allow programmers to train models quickly and at a lower cost, due to a reduction in energy use. Anthropic, an Amazon-backed OpenAI competitor, has already announced plans to build models using Trainium2 chips.

Graviton4, on the other hand, is more for general use. These processors are based on Arm architecture, but consume less energy than Intel or AMD chips. Amazon promises an increase of 30 percent in general performance when using a trained AI model embedded within a Graviton4 processor. This should lower cloud-computing costs for organizations that regularly employ AI models and offer a slight uptick in speed for regular users just looking to make some fake photos of Harry Potter at a rave or whatever.

All told, Graviton4 should allow AWS customers to “process larger amounts of data, scale their workloads, improve time-to-results and lower their total cost of ownership.” It’s available today in preview with a wider release planned for the coming months.

Typically, when a company announces new in-house chips, that spells trouble for current third-party providers like NVIDIA. The company is a huge player in the enterprise AI space, thanks to companies using its GPUs for training and its Arm-based datacenter CPU Grace. Instead of eschewing the partnership in favor of proprietary chips, Amazon is further cementing the relationship by offering enterprise customers cloud access to NVIDIA’s latest H200 AI GPUs. It’ll also operate more than 16,000 Nvidia GH200 Grace Hopper Superchips expressly for NVIDIA’s research and development team. This is a similar approach to its chief AI rival, Microsoft, which also announced an enhanced partnership with NVIDIA at the same time it revealed its proprietary AI chip, Maia 100.

Amazon also announced a new business-focused AI chatbot called Q, a name that was likely inspired by the Star Trek demigod and not the Trump-adjacent conspiracy peddler. It’s described as a “new type of generative AI-powered personal assistant” and is specifically designed to help streamline work projects and customer service tasks. It can be tailored to suit any business and offers relevant answers to commonly-asked questions. Amazon Q can also generate content on its own and take actions based on customer requests. It’ll even customize interactions based on a user’s role within a company.

It’ll exist on communication apps like Slack and in text-editing applications commonly-used by software developers. To that end, Q can actually change source code and can connect to more than 40 enterprise systems, including Microsoft 365, Dropbox, Salesforce and Zendesk, among others. Amazon Q is currently available in preview, with a wider release coming soon. It’ll cost anywhere from $20 to $30 per user each month, depending on available features.

So what have we learned here? Amazon is betting big on AI, like everyone else. More specifically, it’s battling with old cloud rival Microsoft to be the go-to company for enterprise-based AI. It’s also using AI to continue its dominance in the cloud computing space, hoping to minimize any increase in market share for Microsoft and other players like Google and Alibaba.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amazon-says-its-next-gen-chips-are-four-times-faster-for-ai-training-200028416.html?src=rss 

Ayaneo has been teasing its Macintosh-inspired PC for a few weeks. Now that the AM01 is available for pre-order, the company has revealed the prices and specs. While some had been hoping Ayaneo would use similar chipsets to those found in its powerful handheld gaming devices, it has opted to use older AMD APUs. On the plus side, the company has priced the various AM01 configurations pretty fairly.

The mini PC starts at $149 for a configuration with an AMD Ryzen 3 3200U, 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. That’s an early bird price, and this version will later retail for $199. Configurations with a Ryzen 7 5700U APU start at an early bird price of $219 for a barebone unit and stretch up to $379 for a model with 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD. Ayaneo notes that the AM01 is expandable up to 64GB of dual-channel DDR4 RAM and 2TB of M.2 solid state storage. There’s also a SATA 3.0 interface that supports a 2.5-inch SDD or HDD.

The Ryzen 7 5700U variants have Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2, compared with Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth 4.2 on Ryzen 3-powered units. Ayaneo keeps the AM01 cool with the help of a large fan and four copper heat pipes.

On the connectivity front, there’s one USB-C 3.2 Gen1 port, three USB 3.2 Gen2 ports and one for USB 2. There’s a 3.5mm headphone jack, while the machine runs on DC power. There are also gigabit Ethernet, DisplayPort 1.4 and HDMI 2.0 ports. Ayaneo says the AM01 can output video in 4k at 60fps and it’s compatible with dual-screen setups.

All of this comes in a compact case that measures just over 5 inches (132mm) wide and tall and just over 2.5 inches (64.5mm) thick. Adding to the AM01’s portability, it weighs slightly over a pound (486g).

You can personalize the mini PC with magnetic decorative elements. In other words, you’ll be able to swap out the badge on the bottom left of the machine (the same spot where the Apple logo is on the Macintosh). Ayaneo will include a bunch of stickers too, so you can decorate the non-functional “screen.”

The AM01 comes with Windows 11 Home Edition pre-installed, as long as you opt for a configuration with RAM and an SSD. Ayaneo says the Ryzen 7 APU can handle mainstream online games and “mild” AAA titles. Its AYA Space tool can handle tasks like bringing all of your games from different storefronts together in one place, limiting the framerate and adding a performance overlay.

Although it’s generally worth exercising caution when it comes to products promoted on crowdfunding platforms, Ayaneo effectively uses Indiegogo as a storefront. It’s not looking to crowdfund the AM01. In fact, the mini PC is pretty much ready to roll. The company says the AM01 is slated to ship in December, so the mini PC should start reaching customers over the next few weeks.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ayaneos-macintosh-inspired-mini-pc-starts-at-149-with-internals-to-match-184717612.html?src=rss 

Many companies give away free plugins in honor of the holiday season, but Universal Audio is taking things a step further. The audio giant is giving away free Volt 2 hardware interfaces with the purchase of a yearly subscription to its Spark plugin platform. These interfaces typically cost $170, so this is a pretty great deal for beginners, as the hardware plus the Spark software is pretty much everything you need.

Spark subscriptions are also on sale for the holidays, at $150 instead of $240, though this price point is fairly common. The end result? You pay $150 and you get a year of access to every available plugin on the service, plus the Volt 2. Not bad. The company’s subscription-based Spark platform allows access to dozens of popular UAD plugins, from iconic compressors like the 1176 to virtual instruments like the company’s Minimoog reproduction.

As for the Volt 2, this diminutive audio interface features a pair of TRS / XLR inputs on the front and associated gain control knobs. There’s a phantom power button for condenser mics and a proprietary Vintage Mode that runs the signal through a simple tube preamp emulation. These interfaces are powered via USB-C, though ship with a 5V jack for when you’re plugged into an iPad or another mobile device.

In our official review, we praised the Volt 2 audio interface for its low noise floor, simple controls and low latency, particularly when compared to rival Windows-based products. The biggest con was the price, which is normally the case for UAD products. Now that it’s down to $0 for this promotion, that worry has dissipated.

This isn’t the first time that UAD has leveraged the holiday season to give away free hardware. The company used to hand out free Satellite DSP accelerators to run its plugins with the purchase of higher-priced hardware items like the multi-channel 4-710d preamp and compressor.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/universal-audio-is-giving-away-volt-2-audio-interfaces-with-spark-subscriptions-182131900.html?src=rss 

Google says a first-of-its-kind geothermal energy project is now feeding carbon-free electricity (CFE) into the Nevada grid that powers its data centers in the area. The company says that the enhanced geothermal system (EGS) is delivering a round-the-clock supply of CFE to the grid. It’s a step toward Google’s goal of entirely powering its data centers and offices on CFE by 2030.

Google teamed up with clean energy startup Fervo Energy in 2021 to work on an EGS. Unlike other sources of CFE such as solar and wind, geothermal projects can operate at any time (solar projects, for instance, can only capture energy during the day). 

Fervo Energy achieved a geothermal breakthrough earlier this year when its system achieved flow and power output records for an EGS. It was capable of producing 3.5 megawatts of electricity — enough to power around 2,600 homes. That test result was said to be the first time an energy company proved an EGS is capable of working on a commercial scale.

Scientists have been trying to make an EGS work since the 1970s. A natural geothermal system requires a blend of heat, rock permeability and fluid to generate electricity. In areas where there’s sufficient heat but not enough permeability, an EGS creates the latter by drilling deep into the earth and injecting fluid to create fractures in the rock.

At its Nevada site, Fervo drilled 8,000 feet into the ground, then extended the well horizontally to reach more of the hot reservoir. It drilled a second horizontal well to intersect the fractures in the rock. The company pumps cold water from the first well through the fractures into the second well. The water absorbs heat from the surrounding rock. This is used to generate steam and that produces CFE.

The Department of Energy has acknowledged that, unlike with gas and oil fracking, EGS poses a low risk of water contamination. EGS reservoirs are typically much deeper in the ground than oil and gas reservoirs and aren’t close to groundwater or near-surface drinking water supplies. Geothermal power plants don’t release any water on the surface either.

A 2019 report by the DOE found that — through advancements in technology as well as in policy and procurement — EGS could generate up to 120 gigawatts of clean energy by 2050. That would be enough to cover over 16 percent of the US’ expected electricity needs.

Google says it’s working to accelerate adoption of EGS as a clean energy solution. To that end, it recently teamed up with Project InnerSpace, a non-profit organization that’s focused on removing barriers that are limiting the global development of geothermal energy. Fervo, meanwhile, is building an EGS site in Utah that it expects to deliver 400 megawatts of 24/7 carbon-free electricity — enough to power as many as 300,000 homes. Fervo says that site will start delivering power to the grid in 2026 and reach full-scale production two years later.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/googles-first-geothermal-energy-project-is-up-and-running-162630603.html?src=rss 

Back in June, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) began an in depth investigation into the planned $20 billion Adobe and Figma merger. The organization has released its findings and, well, they don’t paint a rosy picture. The probe tasked independent experts to determine whether or not the merger would reduce competition in the design space and the results suggest that, in fact, it’ll do just that.

It must be noted, however, that these are provisional findings. With that said, the CMA’s message is clear. The group states that the merger will “eliminate competition between two main competitors”, which is fairly obvious given Figma and Adobe’s standing in the industry. The findings also state that the deal would “reduce innovation” and the development of competing products. Finally, it’ll also “remove Figma as a threat” with regard to Adobe’s flagship software suites like Photoshop and Illustrator.

Figma is a giant player in the UK design space, accounting for 80 percent of the market. It’s also a major part of the country’s $19.4 billion app development sector. Without the merger, the CMA suggests, Figma would continue to develop or expand products that challenge Adobe. That goes away once the merger is in place because, you know, why challenge yourself?

The investigation concludes that the merger would eliminate competition between these two major players across multiple fields, including product design, image editing and illustration. These sectors account for $60 billion in annual revenue across the UK, adding up to nearly three percent of the national economy, with 850,000 skilled workers across the impacted industries. Another intent of the investigation was to suss out if the merger would damage the UK’s economy and it concluded it most likely will.

Again, these are provisional findings and the CMA has yet to consult the data to reach a final decision as to whether or not it’ll allow the sale to go through. It plans on taking some time to “listen to any further views,” likely referring to Adobe. To that end, Adobe argues that buying Figma would strengthen both companies, saying that the Creative Cloud apps would get some of Figma’s collaborative features and vice-versa. The company says it’s “deeply committed” to keeping Figma an independent entity and that it has no plans to change the pricing, including Figma’s free tier.

If the deal’s approved by the UK, which looks more unlikely with this report, Adobe still has some other battles to fight before this merger officially goes through. The acquisition still faces a US investigation, and the EU has issued its own dire warning.

This would be the larger-ever-purchase for Adobe in its storied 41-year history. Figma, on the other hand, is a relative newcomer to the market, springing forth in 2012.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/adobe-and-figma-deal-will-harm-digital-design-sector-uk-report-suggests-163954858.html?src=rss 

In a bid to comply with updated privacy rules in Europe, Meta recently gave Facebook and Instagram users in the region an ultimatum. They either had to agree to receive targeted ads or sign up for a €10 per month subscription for each app (or stop using them altogether). That would give users the choice of opting out of ad tracking, but they’d have to pay a hefty sum to do so. 

Now, an Austrian privacy group called noyb has filed a complaint against that Meta’s actions on behalf of a client in financial distress. The group stated that the subscription price is out of proportion to the value Facebook receives, so it’s effectively a false choice for users without the means to pay for a subscription. 

“More than 20% of the EU population are already at risk of poverty,” wrote noyb founder noted EU privacy advocate Max Schrems. “For the complainant in our case, as for many others, a ‘Pay or Okay’ system would mean paying the rent or having privacy.” 

Citing Meta’s own data, noyb said that the company’s average revenue per user in Europe was $16.79 between Q3 2022 and Q3 2023, or about €62.88 per user. However, it plans to charge a minimum of €120 per year (more if you sign up on a smartphone), or up to €251.88 ($275.88) to have both Instagram and Facebook. 

noyb notes that 3 to 10 percent of users want personalized ads, but 99.9 percent consent, due to the lack of a true choice. “EU law requires that consent is the genuine free will of the user. Contrary to this law, Meta charges a ‘privacy fee’ of up to €250 per year if anyone dares to exercise their fundamental right to data protection,” said noyb’s data protection lawyer Felix Mikolasch. 

Meta’s actions are also likely to set off a “domino effect,” according to noyb. “Already now, TikTok is reportedly testing an ad-free subscription outside the US. Other app providers could follow in the near future, making online privacy unaffordable.” It added that if multiple apps took the same approach, data privacy would be available “only for the rich.” 

Meta defended its approach, saying it follows EU laws. “The option for people to purchase a subscription for no ads balances the requirements of European regulators while giving users choice and allowing Meta to continue serving all people in the EU, EEA and Switzerland. In its ruling, the CJEU expressly recognized that a subscription model, like the one we are announcing, is a valid form of consent for an ads funded service,” a spokesperson told TechCrunch, referring to a post from last month.

However, European courts have stated that any fee charged to avoid tracking on products must be “necessary” and “appropriate.” It also says that consent must be freely given. noyb appears to be targeting those clauses by arguing that the relatively high fees will effectively deter free choice by EU citizens, particularly those in financial difficulty. 

“Fundamental rights are usually available to everyone. How many people would still exercise their right to vote if they had to pay €250 to do so? There were times when fundamental rights were reserved for the rich. It seems Meta wants to take us back for more than a hundred years,” Schrems said. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/metas-controversial-ad-free-subscription-is-facing-scrutiny-from-eu-privacy-campaigners-131506495.html?src=rss 

IKEA isn’t going to be making a play for top tech company anytime soon, but it has kept up an offering of solid smart home devices. Its latest releases are a trio of affordable smart home sensors for everything from open doors to water leakage.

First in the lineup is the Parasoll door and window sensor. You can mount it on your door or window (basically any access point) and receive a notification if they open or close unexpectedly. It also pairs directly with an IKEA smart bulb. Speaking of light, there’s the Vallhorn wireless motion sensor, which activates lights when movement is detected. You can choose what color and amount of light you want, with the sensor controlling up to 10 IKEA smart bulbs. Rounding out the new offerings is the Barding water leakage sensor, which works to alert you about any rogue water before your floor finds out. The device can send you a mobile notification, or trigger an alarm.

The sensors are small and white, lending themselves to blending in better throughout the house (unless you really love color). All the sensors are compatible with IKEA’s Dirigera Hub, but only Vallhorn works with the older Tradfri gateway.

IKEA points to people’s desire to feel comfortable and secure in their homes as motivation for these new products. “Everyone wants to feel safe at home and we feel excited about entering a new smart product area that creates not only a better, but safer life at home,” Stjepan Begic, Product Design Developer at IKEA of Sweden, said in a statement. “We believe these products can provide our customers with peace of mind and a greater sense of control and comfort.” The three new devices follow the release of previous sensors by IKEA, like Vindstyrka, which measures air quality.

The US pricing isn’t available yet, but the Parasoll will be €9.99 in Europe, with the Vallhorn and Barding sensors priced at €7.99 and €9.99, respectively. These numbers could transfer over directly into USD or be slightly higher. The sensors should be available in the US in January (Vallhorn), April (Parasoll) and July (Barding) in 2024.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ikeas-new-smart-home-sensors-focus-on-safety-and-avoiding-water-damage-133033586.html?src=rss 

Eduards Sizovs, founder of software developer conference DevTernity, has already been in the headlines for listing fake female speakers for a conference. Now, it has been revealed that Sizovs may also be behind is also behind Coding_Unicorn, a popular Instagram account supposedly run by a female coder, 404 Media reports.

Coding_Unicorn has 115,000 followers on Instagram and claims to be run by a professional software developer named Julia. The account features photos — many of which are glamour shots — of Julia at a MacBook alongside “no-BS coding, career, productivity tips.” 

404 Media has laid out a range of evidence that Sizovs is responsible for the account, such as a YouTube video showing Sizovs having previously logged into the account’s email and photos of Julia’s computer screen that show her logged in as Sizovs. Some of Julia’s Instagram captions are also exact copies of Sizovs’ LinkedIn posts. 

Julia also lists herself as a DevTernity fan and links to the company’s upcoming conferences. She was allegedly going to speak at a conference but “switched to helping with the organization.” The event, which was set to start on December 7, has been canceled following the allegations that fake women were added to the lineup in an effort for it to look diverse. Two women — one listed as a staff engineer at Coinbase and another as a Microsoft MVP and WhatsApp senior engineer — were removed from DevTernity’s website and have no online presence or, potentially, existence at all, according to The Register.  

Sizovs responded to the conference allegations on X: “The amount of hate and lynching I keep receiving is as if I would have scammed or killed someone. But I won’t defend myself because I don’t feel guilty. I did nothing terrible that I need to apologize for.” Sizovs did admit that one profile listed on the site was a “demo persona” that was “auto-generated, with a random title, random Twitter handle, random picture.” However, skeptics claim removing the person should have been simple and that it didn’t appear to be auto-generated at all, with the picture even changing early on.

Looking to the future, Sizovs said, “I’ll increase efforts 10x to make sure that next year, if one of our ladies drops out, we have a fallback plan.” As for Unicorn_Coding, it’s unclear who exactly the woman is in the photos or how she’s connected to Sizovs. Read 404 Media‘s article to learn more about this wild case.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/a-popular-female-coding-influencers-instagram-is-apparently-run-by-a-man-115046245.html?src=rss