April 17, 2015 - The WAN Show Document

[LinusTech]

 

Soundcloud Link: https://soundcloud.com/thewanshow/the-wan-show-4k-smartphones-amd-lost-180m-april-17-2015

 

News

China to install 3D printers in all its 400,000-plus primary schools

Source 1: linustechtips.com - china to install 3d printers in OP: Victorious Secret

Source 2: 3dprint.com/56699/china-3d-printers-schools/

Source 3: 3dprint.com/21163/gartner-3d-printing-2018/

• Desktop 3D printer prices range from $400 to $3000 USD

• Many schools cannot afford them.

• Obama has mentioned several times the importance of 3D printing, notably in one of his State of the Union Addresses.

• According to Simon Shen of the Kinpo Group (parent company of XYZprinting), the Chinese government has a new policy to install a 3D printer in each of its ~400,000 elementary schools over the next two years. The plans have not yet been made available to the public yet.

• For comparison the US has ~70,000 elementary schools, and ~100,000 total public schools.

Sharp 5.5inch 4k display

Source 1: linustechtips.com - sharp announces staggering overkill OP: Alexgoeshigh

Source 2: neowin.net - sharp announces 55 inch 4k display with jaw dropping 80

• IGZO Panel

• 806PPI

• Predicted for smartphones coming out late 2016/early 2017.

• Samsung is also reportedly working on a 4k display for the Note 5.

• LG is reportedly working on a 27-inch 8K panel for Apple.

• Linus: NVIDIA and other GPU makers must be licking their chips er.. chops

AMD $180 Million net loss, exits dense microserver business.

Source 1: linustechtips.com - amd 180 million net loss exits dense OP: Coolaxgaming

Source 2: anandtech.com/show/9172/amd-posts-q1-2015-results-180-million-net-loss

• AMD reported revenue of $1.03 billion for the Q1 FY 2015 quarter.

  • 16.9% decrease as compared to Q4 2014

  • 26.4% decrease from the $1.40 billion recorded in Q1 2014.

• Net loss Q1 2015 quarter was $180 million,

  • Net loss Q4 2014 quarter was a $364 million

  • Net loss Q1 2014 quarter was $20 million.

• Part of these losses are due to the ongoing restructuring at AMD.

• “AMD is certainly not in a great position right now, and the new CEO Dr. Lisa Su has some work to do in order to get AMD back to a financially viable state. Part of that is diversifying revenues, especially with the PC market slowing again. AMD has not had a significant product launch in a few quarters, which has not helped either.”

• Longer term look at AMD’s graphics card fortunes: https://forum.beyond3d.com/threads/nvidia-shows-signs-of-strain.43294/page-161#post-1828480

• Loss primarily due to the $75 million hit for exiting the dense server business.

ASUS unveils VivoWatch with 10-day battery life

Source 1: linustechtips.com - asus unveils vivowatch with 10 OP: Michael Mcallister

Source 2: engadget.com/2015/04/13/asus-vivowatch-milan-design-week/?ncid=rss_truncated

Source 3: technobuffalo.com/2015/04/13/asus-vivowatch-smartwatch/

• Previous, Asus ZenWatch was powered by Google’s Android Wear operating system, but now the firm is back with a different device called the VivoWatch.

• Capable of tracking your sleep patterns and various workouts

• IP67 water and dust resistance rating; you wear it in the shower or the pool.

• Promise of up to 10 days of battery life.

• The new Pebble Time will offer up to 7 days of battery life

• Pricing and a release date have not yet been confirmed.

 

Google gives response to EU antitrust investigation into Android

Source 1: linustechtips.com - google gives response to eu antitrust i OP: Syntaxvgm

Source 2: googleblog.blogspot.be/2015/04/android-has-helped-create-more-choice.html

Source 3: europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-15-4780_en.htm

Quotes from google on the investigation:

• “The European Commission has asked questions about our partner agreements. It's important to remember that these are voluntary—again, you can use Android without Google but provide real benefits to Android users, developers and the broader ecosystem.”

• “Anti-fragmentation agreements ensure apps work across all sorts of different Android devices.”

• “Our app distribution agreements make sure that people get a great "out of the box" experience with useful apps right there on the home screen. This also helps manufacturers of Android devices compete with Apple, Microsoft and other mobile ecosystems that come preloaded with similar baseline apps.”

• “These distribution agreements are not exclusive, and Android manufacturers install their own apps and apps from other companies as well. And in comparison to Apple—the world’s most profitable (mobile) phone company—there are far fewer Google apps pre-installed on Android phones than Apple apps on iOS devices.”

Tesla Home Battery Details Emerge

Source 1: linustechtips.com/tesla-home-battery-details… OP: Victorious Secret

Source 2: gas2.org/tesla-home-battery-details-emerge

• Trip Chowdhry, a stock analyst for Global Equities Research, claims to have insider info on the batteries

• claims that 230 homes in California currently have a Tesla home battery installed

• 100 homes in other states have the same

• battery is installed 1.5 feet above the ground and requires 1 foot of space on all sides

• produces no noise, no drippings, and does not require maintenance

• includes the inverter

• 3ft tall, 2.5ft wide, “looks good”

• installer offered a choice between a 10kWh and 15kWh battery

• 10 kWh priced at US$13,000

• at least one local utility is offering a 50% rebate

• can be purchased on credit - one buyer placed $1,500 down initially, monthly payments of $15 for ten years (numbers don’t seem to add up on that as it only produces a total of $3,300)

• one owner is actually charging his battery at night when electricity is cheaper in the area, then selling it back to PG&E during peak hours for a profit! (estimated at $12-15/month, pretty much covering cost of the battery)

• battery can be controlled from an iPhone, has a web app as well

• apparently has the potential to store from a solar panel

• can be used fully off the grid

Bell Canada faces $750 million class action suit for selling consumer data

Source 1: linustechtips.com/bell-canada-faces-750-million… OP: GoodBytes

Source 2: cbc.ca/bell-faces-750m-lawsuit…

• suit is against Bell Mobility Inc, Bell Canada Inc. on behalf of Bell Mobility and Virgin Mobile customers

• alleged breaches of privacy arising from recently discontinued target ads program

• program was named the “relevant ads program” and was launched in November 2013

• alleges they used the program to track, collect, and sell the sensitive account and internet browsing info of customers to advertisers

• 750 million damages for breach of privacy, breach of contract, and breach of the Telecommunications

• Bell would not comment on allegations in the lawsuit, which have not been proven in court

• though they have already cancelled the program, they indicated plans to reintroduce it in the future and include landline as well as TV use (though they said they would seek explicit customer consent through opt-in approach)

• after announcement of the program the federal privacy began an investigation due to “an unprecedented volume of complaints”

• on April 7 the commissioner found that Bell violated the federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act

• did not adequately disclose the nature of information

• customers were not given the option to properly consent the use of their information

• customers were automatically included unless the specifically opted out (113,000 Bell customers did so)

• Bell claims they will delete all customer profiles created under the program

• in addition to damages, the lawsuit seeks the appointment of an expert to "oversee and confirm the destruction of the personal information."

Star Wars: Battlefront - 40 Player battles and pre-order

Source 1: linustechtips.com/star-wars-battlefront-40-player-battles… OP: werto165

Source 2: ign.com/weve-seen-7-minutes-of-star-wars...

• 7 minutes of PS4 gameplay revealed

• IGN claims “it’s clear what the mission has been: make the most faithful video game adaptation of the original trilogy to date.”

• includes locations like Endor in the gameplay trailer

• showed off AT-ATs, Y-Wings, X-Wings etc.

• footage switches between first- and third-person views

• already announced that there will be a free DLC just 3 weeks after launch… will be received one week early if you pre-order...

• Dice confirmed it will run at 60FPS on PC

• pre-order is now available on Origin

RAPID FIRE

Apple Pay plans to launch in Canada this Fall

Source 1: linustechtips.com/apple-pay-plans-to-launch… OP: Victorious Secret

Source 2: 9to5mac.com/report-apple-planning-apple-pay…

• first expansion of the payments service outside the US

• in talks with banks for a launch as soon as November

• have also posted job listing for the services in EU, Middle East, India, and Asia, so international expansion seems to be coming quickly

Duracell shows off Wireless charging ring for non-Wireless charging phone

Source 1: linustechtips.com/duracell-shows-off-wireless-charging… OP: ahhming

Source 2: androidpolice.com/duracell-will-sell-you-a-giant…

• giant ring you plug into the charging port on your phone

• listed at $53.98

• it appears Duracell have seen the error of their ways, as the page has been removed

IKEA launches wireless charging furniture range

Source 1: linustechtips.com/ikea-launches-wireless-charging… OP: Overl0rd

Source 2: engadget.com/ikea-wireless-charging

• lineup includes lamps and tables

• floor, table, and work lamps with build it wireless charging spots

• also two bedside tables and a selection of pads that can be bought separately and added to your existing furniture

• supports the Qi standard

• also selling a number of wireless charging covers for Samsung & Apple products

• no pricing yet, will launch in US & UK in mid-April, starting at 30 British Pounds

The TMA-2 modular headphone system from AIAIAI is out

Source 1: linustechtips.com/hi-fi-news-the-tma-2-headphone… OP: Ridska

Source 2: aiaiai.dk/headphones/tma-2

• can change out drivers, pads, cable, & headband to suit your needs/wants

• apparently there are 360 possible combinations in total

• you do have to order the separate parts, but you build the unit yourself

• apparently it has set the internet alight, because their site now has a notice that you should expect slow load times due to increased traffic from the launch

Apple Watch already wiping the floor with “the entire smartwatch market”

Source 1: businessinsider.com/apple-watch-kgi-securities-2-million…

Source 2: macrumors.com/apple-watch-2-3-million-pre-orders

• KGI securities estimates the debut smartwatch from Apple has already sold more than 2.3 million pre-order units

• device does not actually release until April 24 at the earliest

• no official sales data released by Apple yet

• likely won’t get official numbers until Apple’s quarterly earnings report

• estimated that 1 million pre-orders were placed on day one

• estimated that Google sold 720,000 Android Wear units in all of 2014 - Apple outshone in one day

• Pebble has sold over 1 million units between launch in 2013 and the end of 2014

NZ VPN providers set to be sued by TV networks

Source 1: kitguru.net/nz-vpn-providers-set-to-be-sued…

• two providers in NZ refused to comply with demands set by media corporations

• set to be hit by legal action in the coming days

• TVNZ and Sky, TV networks, claim that by offering the VPN service, CallPlus and Bypass Network Services are complicit in customers watching overseas content

• including watching services like American Netflix

• TVNZ and Sky targeted ISPs and VPN providers with demands that they stop offering the service

• most of them complied, CallPlus and Bypass Network Services did not

Supermicro X10SDV-TLN4F Embedded motherboard

Source 1: linustechtips.com - supermicro x10sdv tln4f embedded mother OP: Kkpatel87

Source 2: servethehome.com

• Onboard dual 10GBase-T

• Dual 1Gbase-T Ethernet

• 128GB DDR4 RAM tested and verified working

• Remote management

• Single M.2 PCIe port

• 6x SATA III 6.0gbps ports

• $950ish MSRP

GTA V artifacting problems on AMD GPUS

Source 1: linustechtips.com - gta v artifacting problems on amd gpus OP: Zappian

Source 2: hardcoregamer.com - grand theft auto v on pc suffering from artifact

(Image on source 2)

• When playing GTA V with an AMD graphics card, if you have MSAA turned on (as low as 2x), the bottom right on the game will begin to artifact badly.

• Only fixed when turning anti-aliasing off.

• No ETA for patch.

• Discussion topic - Did you pre-order GTA V? How do you feel about it? Do you conisder it safer or WORSE to pre-order a game that’s already out on other platforms? Twitter blitz

 

/u/ammar2 exposes a major security flaw in Minecraft

Source 1: linustechtips.com - uammar2 exposes a major security flaw i OP: Faissaloo

Source 2: github.com/ammaraskar/pyCraft

Source 3: wiki.vg/NBT

Source 4: blog.ammaraskar.com/minecraft-vulnerability-advisory/

• Flaw allows anyone to send certain malformed packets and crash a server by running it out of memory.

• /u/ammar2 responsibly and privately disclosed the problem to Mojang on 10th July, 2013.

• Asked for updates in one month intervals over the course of 3 months and was ignored or given highly unsatisfactory responses.

• The version of the game when the vulnerability was reported was 1.6.2, the game is now on version 1.8.3.

• Mojang attempted to implement a fix for this problem, however they did not test their fix against the proof of concept provided, which still crashed the server.

• This problem has been patched as of minecraft version 1.8.4

Apple worried that Samsung won’t make enough chips for iPhone due to Galaxy S6 success

Source 1: linustechtips.com/apple-is-worried-samsung… OP: Victorious Secret

Source 2: businessinsider.com/ming-chi-kuo-samsung…

• sales have exceeded expectations so far according to KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo

• could hurt Apple’s access to the 14nm A9 processors that Samsung produces for the next generation iPhone

• worry the Samsung manufacturing unit will prioritize Galaxy range over its orders

• good news for Samsung after the Galaxy S5 models went into decline shortly after launch

• upped plans for S6 and S6 Edge for full year by roughly 40%

• from 35-40 million units to 50-55 million units

• Apple now looking to move nearly one-third of its A9 orders to TSMC due to Samsung producing for their own devices, and GlobalFoundries experiencing poor results on the next-gen CPU’s production

[Decon]

Thanks @LinusTech

 

Haven't watched yet; who brought the Bell Mobile issue to light?

[MblaZe7run]

 

-snip-

 

Apple worried that Samsung won’t make enough chips for iPhone due to Galaxy S6 success

Source 1: linustechtips.com/apple-is-worried-samsung… OP: Victorious Secret

Source 2: businessinsider.com/ming-chi-kuo-samsung…

• sales have exceeded expectations so far according to KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo

• could hurt Apple’s access to the 14nm A9 processors that Samsung produces for the next generation iPhone

• worry the Samsung manufacturing unit will prioritize Galaxy range over its orders

• good news for Samsung after the Galaxy S5 models went into decline shortly after launch

• upped plans for S6 and S6 Edge for full year by roughly 40%

• from 35-40 million units to 50-55 million units

• Apple now looking to move nearly one-third of its A9 orders to TSMC due to Samsung producing for their own devices, and GlobalFoundries experiencing poor results on the next-gen CPU’s production

 

Used this for my current events article in one of my classes. The instructor is hardcore pro-Apple, and most of us are pro-Android, so any chance we get to fire shots in his direction, we take it Got full points though!

[Vexzarium]

I... didn't... know...

 

Samsung makes the chips for Apple?!?! 

[Poster]

Great show guys!

[MblaZe7run]

I... didn't... know...

 

Samsung makes the chips for Apple?!?! 

They've made many products for Apple, starting with the RAM modules for the original iPod, iirc. Apple only designs the products, they don't actually manufacture anything (again, iirc). I know Sony makes the camera, Samsung and TSMC make the processors, and I don't remember any of the other parts and who makes them.

[popman]

no afterparty.

[Jupsik]

In the part where Lord Linus and Luke the have to set further back so that Linus doesn't look like a midget, looked at the Nvidia and AMD graphs and market shares and linus pointed out the bit about monopoly, then the general point where a company has a ''monopoly'' is considered 50% market share. But that is mostly when the other parties are dispersed. The current 76% and 24% leads to believe that Nvidia is now in fact in a monopoly/dominant position. While this isn't a problem in itself, it does become a problem when Nvidia were to say use a black box, lets call it Gameworks, to foreclose a large part of the AAA gaming market to improve the performance of its drivers at the cost of the competitors drivers. While I don't mind it, I wouldn't be to surprised to see a complaint by some NGO, partially owned by AMD, to the FTC or the EU commission. If I was working at AMD, I would most likely recommend that course of action. Especially with the possibility to get treble damages in the US. Hell if I was working in an independent law firm in the US I'd go to AMD and beg them to let me do this. 

[Bsmith]

linus:

"if im ever see you guys do this im going to give so much shit about you guys that it is not the right thing to do"

luke:

but you are still doing it

linus:

yeah, shut up im doing it right now"

 

all hail LTT logic!

do as we say, not as we do

[kidddd66]

I feel bad for AMD , they're doing their best to stay up in the market, but they're falling down due nvidia

[William5849]

It's quite funny how business works. For a while Apple wasn't even making the display themselves. It's how business works. Heck even Samsung still pays Microsoft money for the handsets it sells.

[Trik'Stari]

OMG All dem SSD's. Really hope we get a video of that thing being build.

 

Also, what was the deal with the chick yelling about the car? Sounded like it was outside, towards the end of the show.

[george111cz]

About the 30% more expensive AMD graphics cards to be profitable: Don't forget, the 30% raise in the price that AMD sells their chips to the manufacturers for wouldn't necessarily equal 30% rise in the price of the end product. The chip price is only a part (even though significant) of the price of the card. You must consider, that the memory price would be the same, PCB manufacturing costs wouldn't increase either, etc. So in the end you might see approx. 10-15% (just a guess) raise in the graphics cards prices, which, in my opinion, wouldn't be that ridiculous.

[sanderdegrote]

For the ones interested, this is the article Linus was referring to while talking about every game being fundamentally broken: http://www.gamedev.net/topic/666419-what-are-your-opinions-on-dx12vulkanmantle/#entry5215019

[nerdyrcdriver]

As someone involved in the purchase of several 3d printers and as a student that has worked in labs with different types of 3d printers I really only see FDM printers (filament) as home printers in the next several years. Resin based printers are harder to maintain and prints are not as strong and the resin is more expensive. Powder based printers are amazing but waste a lot of the expensive powder. 

[strawnks]

At one hour and 26 minuets they take about  mini itx motherboard. Someone needs to make a gif of when Linus says the price with the caption saying "Everyone has a price."

[Razor512]

The AMD pricing argument is flawed as it assumes that the number of customers are remaining the same.

 

From a BOM cost perspective, a CPU is very cheap. sites like IHS have done teardowns and cost analysis, and have shows chips such as many high end core I7's to cost around $3 to make after taking into account estimated yields.

The production cost is virtually nothing to these companies. The main issue is recouping the R&D and other investments before the chip becomes outdated. This all requires the company to push volume. Intel is making so much money because their chips are in virtually every desktop and laptop PC being produced, as virtually every price point, even at ones where an AMD build would offer better performance for the money.

 

What is hurting AMD is that they have abandoned the high performance segment and that hurts their brand. From a value standpoint, for the areas where AMD still competes, they offer more performance for the money. the problem is that they have nothing beyond upper mid range. thus they get the reputation of being slow regardless of the price bracket. I had cases where I recommended an AMD build for someone who wanted a decent system for consuming media, and gaming. I recommended a build containing an FX8350, and person told me he found something better (A random dell system with a Pentium G series CPU and onboard video (instead of the R9 280). The person also argued that the CPU was faster because it was made by intel.

It takes a lot of explaining to get them to understand that the idea of price to performance and the benchmarks of the various CPU's.

 

AMD has a bad reputation towards the average customer market, and they represent the vast majority of the component purchases. To win back their market share, they must start producing higher end chips. The average customer has to understand that AMD can compete on performance in order to drive up market share on their entire CPU line.

 

As it is now, you only really see their chips on custom builds (FX series), and some of their super low power APU's on bottom dollar PC's.

 

 

There are multiple things they can do in addition to building high end chips. they can significantly drop the pricing (e.g., significantly drop the prices in order to capture the upper mid range market and lower. e.g., if you can get a brand new fx 8350 for around $60-70, then you will see a market surge in its sales, as it will allow people to have a decent chip, and a top end GPU all at a mid range price.

 

When everything is being sold at an astronomical markup over BOM, there is a lot of flexibility in pricing, and if you can cut the prices by around 50-60% but in return increase sales by 500-1000% then you make more money at the end of the day, while simultaneously reducing your production costs through economies of scale.

[StrangeOne]

Regarding phone resolution, I have a Note 4 (not the greatest phone but it kinda helps with my point), comparing it's QHD display with one of my friend's One M8 there isn't much of a noticeable difference in quality unless you really are looking for it. However there is a massive difference in quality (resolution-wise) when I look at an iPhone 6(+) even at the recommended 12 inches away. Maybe I've become more focused on pixels than the average user but I personally think Apple could really do better with their phone resolution (but yeah that whole 4k is just totally unnecessary, I really just got this phone because 500+ ppi was a bragging point).

[Sudo Chocolate]

Rumors about possibility of windows becoming open source.

Seems like an interesting but unlikely thing. I am a big fan of open source stuff but usually big companies are not.

If this is the wrong place to post a suggestion please tell me! If you do end up using this could you tell me so I can be sure to watch? Thanks!

[R0ADK1LL]

OK, clarity on the NZ content thing. Disclosure: I work for TVNZ but my views do not necessarily represent those of the company.

 

Several ISPs are using a service called Global Mode. This is not the same as a VPN because it is not being used for privacy. It is a feature that is automatically switched on so that Kiwis can bypass regional restrictions & use services such as Netflix in the US.

 

Recently a number of local subscription streaming services have launched including Netflix NZ, Neon & Lightbox in addition to the existing ad based On Demand services offered by TVNZ & TV3. These NZ based companies pay content providers, such as Fox or Disney, for exclusive rights in NZ. Companies bid against each other & pay handsomely for these rights.

 

The collection of media companies, including TVNZ & Sky (who owns Neon) have asked the ISPs to stop using Global Mode but have not yet filed a lawsuit. If & when the lawsuit does happen, there will be one of two outcomes: A) Global Mode is deemed to breach the rights of NZ companies who have paid for exclusive rights, it will be made illegal. This will likely not cover VPNs. B) Global Mode will be deemed legal & then companies like TVNZ will try to renegotiate with the content suppliers (Fox, Disney, HBO etc.)

 

As a consumer, it's hard to see this positively but if you look at it from the perspective of NZ based media providers who have paid for exclusivity & are not getting it, then it becomes easier to understand. You can make up your own mind what you think about it but I thought I'd at least help to get some of the facts straight.

[Zulkkis]

AMD can't compete with Intel who is already experimenting with 14nm-something.

Intel is making fast advance on the iGPU side of things, too.

 

GPU side of things, though? I don't know. This will be me pulling stuff out of the magic hat.

 

nVidia has far better public perception. The consumer base is largely uninformed when it comes to the components. They take nVidia, because it is better, not "AMD, because driver issues". When I look at the in-house systems offered by a local store that sells components, it seems to be nVidia-flavoured pretty heavily. A lot of the systems have a GTX 960 which makes the least sense in a lot of ways.

 

For people who are more educated on the subject, nVidia has a couple of advantages; high-end performance is ultimately better, and CUDA is the only form of GPU acceleration offered by a lot of programs. OpenCL is behind, and AMD's implementation isn't gathering a lot of praises, either.

 

The biggets drawback with nVidia is that they seem to not give too much of a thought about their old cards, i.e 7970 Ghz vs GTX 680 at release and how it is right now.

 

When it comes to cost of creating stuff, nVidia is selling cheaper-to-make chips at a higher price.

 

I don't really know. AMD has always been in kind of struggling position, but this looks worse than your usual scenario. If they get sold, what would the potential buyer be interested in making?

[nerdyrcdriver]

The Tesla battery is cool, but nothing revolutionary. People with solar/wind systems for their house (mostly smaller homes) have been doing the same thing for years on a smaller scale. Parts from a solar/wind power system could be used to cheaply recreate something similar to the Tesla battery without needing wind/solar power. 

[tsk]

You guys should do a wan show in French. Canadians speak French right?

[Searinex]

~15:00ish mark. VR capture for PC can be done with nVidea shadowplay, for Android phone a chromecast is the best option I have seen so far (what Tested.com used for samsung VR headset video).