November 9, 2018 - The WAN Show Document

[LinusTech]

 

https://soundcloud.com/thewanshow/amds-64-core-cpu-the-wan-show-nov-9-2018

 

Main News Topics

Samsung unveils Flexible Display

Source 1: rcmaehl https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/992208-weird-flex-but-okay-samsung-rolls-out-infinity-flex-display-native-google-support-annouced/

Source 2: https://www.engadget.com/2018/11/07/samsung-foldable-phone-infinity-flex-display/

 

• Samsung has unveiled a flexible display at the company's 2018 developer conference in San Francisco.

• It's still very much in prototype stage, but Samsung wanted to take the opportunity to show off how UI and UX works on a flexible display, so that developers can make apps that optimize it.

• The company had to invent a new protective layer with an advanced polymer that is both flexible and tough.

• It had to use a special foldable adhesive as well, to make sure the display stayed together in both folded and expanded modes.

• Samsung dimmed the lights because they were only trying to show the display, not the prototype chassis

• When closed, it looks like a regular smartphone, and the cover can be used to display information like the weather and time. It can then be unfolded like a book to reveal a 7.3-inch display that functions similarly to a miniature tablet.

• You can run three apps simultaneously with what it calls a Multi-Active Window.

• Google has been working closely with Samsung to make sure Android plays well with flexible displays.

AMD announces Radeon Instinct MI60 and MI50 accelerators

Source 1: AluminiumTech https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/992154-amd-announces-radeon-instinct-mi60-and-mi50-accelerators-using-7nm-vega-and-pci-e-40-vega-20/

Source 2: https://www.anandtech.com/show/13562/amd-announces-radeon-instinct-mi60-mi50-accelerators-powered-by-7nm-vega

 

• AMD has announced the first two accelerator cards based on the company’s 7nm Vega GPU.

  • Radeon Instinct MI60

  • Radeon Instinct MI50

• the cards are aimed at the enterprise accelerator market, with AMD looking to significantly improve their performance competitiveness in everything from HPC to machine learning.

• 7nm Vega and the MI60 & MI50 cards differentiates itself from the previous Vega 10-powered MI25 in a few key areas.

  • 7nm Vega brings support for half-rate double precision – up from 1/16th rate

  • new low precision data types: INT8 and INT4

    • especially useful for machine learning inferencing, where high precision isn’t necessary,

    • AMD is able to get up to 4x the perf of an FP16/INT16 data type when using the smallest INT4 data type.

  • AMD is claiming a peak throughput of 7.4 TFLOPS FP64, 14.7 TFLOPS FP32, and 118 TOPS for INT4.

 

https://wccftech.com/amd-radeon-rx-590-polaris-30-gpu-1700-mhz-clock-3dmark-firestrike-leak/

 

AMD announces 64-core Epyc processor

Source 1: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/11/07/amd_zen_2_epyc/

Source 2: https://www.kitguru.net/components/cpu/damien-cox/zen-3-and-4-are-on-track-as-amd-demonstrates-its-7nm-epyc-rome-processor/

 

• On Monday, Intel announced a 48 core Xeon processor… and AMD was like “Hold my beer”

• AMD said it's going to roll out a 7nm 64-core second-generation Epyc server processor, dubbed Rome, in 2019.

• Rome will sport PCIe 4.0 interfaces, and the usual PCIe-based Infinity Fabric that interconnects processor sockets and any GPU accelerators.

• With up to 64 physical Zen 2 CPU cores, the chips can run up to 128 hardware threads. This is double the number of cores and hardware threads as 2017's 14nm first-generation Zen 1 Epyc, dubbed Naples.

• As such, AMD CEO Lisa Su told journos and industry analysts in San Francisco on Tuesday that Rome will have double the performance of Naples, due to this core count leap and switch to 7nm.

• Intel’s 48 core Cascade Lake is still on Intel's 14nm process, whereas AMD is nudging ahead with TSMC's 7nm.

• AMD also claimed a single-socket Rome can match or outperform a dual-socket Intel Xeon Scalable 8180M setup, when running the ray-tracing C-Ray benchmark, at least.

• Rome processors are socket compatible with its previous generation, and are forward compatible with Milan: the third-generation Zen-based server part that will use TSMC's 7nm+ node and is due in 2020.

• The Rome processor package contains a central 14nm I/O die that interfaces with up to 2TB of external RAM per socket, and its PCIe 4.0 channels, and multiple dies of 7nm CPU core clusters connected to that I/O block.

  • This way, whenever a CPU core wants to talk to outside memory, it can access it right out through the I/O die, as opposed to the NUMA approach of Zen 1 Epyc chips, where multiple internal dies had their own memory controllers and memory domains.

• Amazon Web Services is also offering AMD generation-one Epyc-powered virtual machines in its cloud, which work out 10 per cent cheaper than Intel-based instances.

 

Apple Blocking Linux Installs

Source Jito463 1:https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/991936-apple-blocking-linux-installs-on-newest-macs-with-t2-chip/

Source 2: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/11/06/apple_mac_linux_woes/

 

• Apple’s T2 security chip is blocking Linux from booting on Mac devices.

• Apple's new MacBook Air and Mac Mini come with the firm's T2 chip embedded, which provides a secure enclave, APFS storage encryption, Touch ID handling, a hardware microphone disconnect on lid close, and other security features.

• However, the chip also restricts the boot process, and means is that Linux support on Mac hardware is now nonexistent.

• By default, Windows isn't even bootable until enabling support for Windows via the Boot Camp Assistant on macOS.

  • "This will install the Windows Production CA 2011 certificate that is used to authenticate Microsoft bootloaders, but this doesn't setup the Microsoft-approved UEFI certificate that allows verification of code by Microsoft partners, including what is used for signing Linux distributions wishing to have UEFI SecureBoot support for Windows PC,"

• Even when the Secure Boot functionality has been disabled, the T2 chip is reportedly still blocking operating systems aside from macOS and Windows 10

 

What’s Coming Out on Floatplane? Go Over Current Week.

Rapid Fire

U.S. Internet traffic routed through China for 2+ years

Source 1: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2018/11/strange-snafu-misroutes-domestic-us-internet-traffic-through-china-telecom/

Source 2:

 

• China Telecom misdirected big chunks of Internet traffic through a roundabout path that threatened the security and integrity of data passing between various providers’ backbones for two and a half years, a security expert said Monday.

• It remains unclear if the routing  was intentional hijacking or was caused by accidental mishandling.

• For example for nearly a week last year, traffic originating in Los Angeles first passed through a China Telecom facility in Hangzhou, before reaching its final stop in Washington, DC.

  • The route was the result of China Telecom inserting itself into the inbound path of Verizon Asian Pacific.

• The routing snafu involving domestic US Internet traffic coincided with a larger misdirection that started in late 2015 and lasted for about two and a half years

  • AS4134, the autonomous system belonging to China Telecom, incorrectly handled the routing announcements of AS703, Verizon's Asia-Pacific AS.

  • The mishandled routing announcements caused several international carriers—including Telia’s AS1299, Tata’s AS6453, GTT’s AS3257, and Vodafone’s AS1273—to send data destined for Verizon Asia-Pacific through China Telecom, rather than using the normal multinational telecoms.

• "it is safe to say that a significant minority of the Internet was carrying these routes."

 

Windows 10 Pro Licenses Being Downgraded To Home

Source 1: seoz https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/992578-windows-10-pro-licenses-are-being-downgraded-to-home/

Source 2: https://www.windowslatest.com/2018/11/08/microsofts-windows-10-activation-system-is-broken-a-fix-is-coming/

 

• users are reporting that Microsoft has downgraded their Windows 10 Pro license to Windows 10 Home without any warning

• reports point to a server-side bug with Microsoft’s activation system.

• The bug is being experienced in several countries, including the US, Japan, and Korea

• Microsoft expected to fix it within 2-3 business days

 

Samsung will add the "notch" on their future phones

Source 1: captain_to_fire https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/992332-confirmed-samsung-will-add-the-notch-on-their-future-phones/

Source 2: https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2018/11/7/18073054/samsung-notch-display-phones-coming

 

• at the company’s developer conference, Samsung confirmed that it’s soon going have 3 different displays with notches

  • Infinity U: similar to the Essential Phone’s notch design. A small half oval that cuts down into the top middle of the display.

  • Infinity V: Similar to Infinity U, but with four edges instead of a curved half-oval.

  • Infinity O: A full circular cutout of the display

  • New Infinity: This looks to be a completely notchless display. Anjum didn’t discuss this one onstage, and the technology isn’t quite there to allow for this design just yet.

 

Google Confirms Dark Mode saves battery on Android

Source 1: tealghost https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/992896-after-4-years-of-searing-retinas-google-finally-agrees-that-dark-modes-help-battery-life-and-saves-your-eyes/

Source 2: https://www.theverge.com/2018/11/8/18076502/google-dark-mode-android-battery-life

 

• At the Android Dev Summit this week, Google showed several slides that compare the power draw of several different colors.

  • original Pixel phone used for these data points.

• The graphs show ‘Max Brightness White’ drawing around 5x more energy than ‘Max Bright Black’

• This led Google to acknowledge that the prominence of white across its own apps and within Android’s style guidelines is less than ideal

• Google is bringin dark mode to the Phone app, and testing it in the mobile Google Feed.

  • Messages and Youtube already have dark mode

• Android can be set to a dark theme for the quick settings pulldown and app drawer, but there’s no system-wide night mode

  • something Samsung plans to do with its new One UI

 

Facebook Opens First Retail Store

Source 1: https://techcrunch.com/2018/11/05/facebook-pop-up-store/

Source 2:

 

• Facebook  is bursting into the physical realm with 9 brick-and-mortar pop-up stores that will show off goods from 100 small business and online brands.

• Facebook organized the merchants to be part of The Market @ Macy’s, which first launched earlier this year to create temporary spaces for businesses.

• The brands come from across apparel, lifestyle, food, beauty and other verticals, and include Two Blind Brothers, Bespoke Post, Inspiralized, Mented Cosmetics and Link.

• The merchants keep all their sales revenue, with Facebook and Macy’s taking no revenue share, and Facebook paid for each merchant’s one-time fee that Macy’s charges for the space.

  • While Facebook doesn’t earn money directly from the stores, it could convince the small businesses and others like them to spend more on Facebook ads.

  • Facebook wants to build a deeper relationship with small businesses so this long tail of advertisers sticks with it as sharing and marketing shift from the News Feed toward Stories and private messaging.

• The stores feature News Feed post-themed displays complete with like button imagery so it feels like you’re shopping Facebook in real life.

• The nine pop-ups will be open until February 2nd in The Market @ Macy’s in NYC, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Fort Lauderdale, San Antonio, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle.

 

Android Devs can now Force users to update their apps

Source 1: https://techcrunch.com/2018/11/07/android-developers-can-now-force-users-to-update-their-apps/

Source 2:

 

• At its Android Dev Summit, Google announced the In-app Updates API, which gives developers two new ways to compel users to update their apps.

  • Say you shipped your application with a major bug and want to make sure that every user upgrades immediately; you will soon be able to show them a full-screen blocking message that will be displayed when they first start the app again and while the update is applied. That’s obviously only meant for major bugs.

  • The second option allows for more flexibility and allows the user to continue using the app while the update is downloaded.

• Developers can fully customize these update flows.

• Right now, the new updates API is in early testing with a few partners and the plan is to open it to more developers soon.

• Other updates include:

  • new Jetpack Architecture Component libraries for Navigation and Work Manager, making it easier for developers to add Android’s navigation principles into their apps and perform background tasks without having to write a lot of boilerplate code.

  • Android App Bundles, which allow developers to modularize their applications and ship parts of them on demand, are also getting some updates, as are Instant Apps, which users can run without installing them.

  • Using web URLs for Instant Apps is now optional and building them in Android Studio has become easier.

 

Gaming in China now reported to Government

Source 1:Evanair https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/992162-gaming-in-china-now-reported-to-government/

Source 2:http://en.people.cn/n3/2018/1106/c90000-9515675.html

 

• Tencent, China’s largest gaming company, has announces that a real-name registration system connected to China’s public security database will be applied to its new games

  • ostensibly to identify under-aged players and help them combat game addiction.

  • “Users under 12 years old can only play our video game for an hour per day, while the allocated gaming time for teenagers over 12 years old is two hours per day,”

• According to the announcement, all players will have to go through a compulsory registration procedure before playing the games and will be required to input their ID number and name.

• The registration will be based on data provided by China’s public security sectors and will help prevent teenage users from assuming fake identities, and curb the rise in nearsightedness among teenagers.

• According to a survey conducted by China’s Ministry of Education in 2018, around 18 percent of Chinese teenagers are at risk of developing video game addiction and play such games four to five hours every day.

• “Tencent has set a good example for other internet enterprises, as such companies should take social responsibility and tackle the rising game addiction occurring within our youth population, working together with governmental sectors, parents and schools,”

 

Xiaomi officially enters UK

Source 1: https://hexus.net/business/news/retailers/124124-xiaomi-officially-enters-uk-market-major-retailer-backing/

Source 2:

 

• Xiaomi is now officially coming to the UK and will hook up with tech distributors like Amazon, Three, CPW and John Lewis – as well as opening a flagship Mi Store in Westfield London.

• Xiaomi entered France and Italy back in May and it has been in Spain for nearly a year – where it is already established as the third most popular smartphone brand.

  • Globally Xiaomi is ranked 4th for smartphones

• The firm is highlighting that its latest and greatest smartphone, Mi 8 Pro, will be making its global debut outside of China at the London Launch event (£499).

  • Other products fleshing out the store will be various smartphones like the Redmi 6A, the Xiaomi Band 3, and the Mi Electric Scooter.

 

[Spotty]

2 minutes ago, LinusTech said:

 

Wrong video link.

[Danielx64]

8 minutes ago, Spotty said:

Wrong video link.

Not only that, they posted a topic yesterday and deleted it too lol

[rcmaehl]

1 hour ago, Danielx64 said:

Not only that, they posted a topic yesterday and deleted it too lol

Entire thread is a train wreck. From time to post to bad video. 

[Master Disaster]

5 hours ago, rcmaehl said:

Entire thread is a train wreck. From time to post to bad video. 

Wait time has been explained. Because they posted that Facebook hardware video on Friday they had to wait until Saturday to post another video otherwise YouTubes algorithm wouldn't have sent out notifications.

 

Doesn't make any sense to me though, I thought they live streamed to YouTube anyway?