May 15, 2015 - The WAN Show Document

[LinusTech]

 

Soundcloud Link: https://soundcloud.com/thewanshow/the-wan-show-cars-dont-kill-people-people-kill-people-with-cars-may-15-2015

 

Main News Topics

AMD wants to stop being known as the “cheaper solution”

Source 1: linustechtips.com/amd-wants-to-stop-being… OP: zappian

Source 2: arstechnica.com/amd-admits-it-cant-be…

• AMD has seen losses fairly consistently since the Athlon 64 days, outside of a stretch of profits in early 2014 with the launch of PS4 & XBone

• losses of millions, if not billions, have been commonplace

• Fabs that were spun off into GlobalFoundries and difficult merger cited as two major points contributing to losses

• in an effort to keep up and keep losses to a minimum, AMD has become known as the budget chip company

• stated at AMD Financial Analyst Day event that the company will no longer be competing in a race to the bottom

• “It's extraordinarily important to ensure that we have competitive, high-performance cores. We have reduced our low-end PC exposure.” CEO Lisa Su

• goes on to state that they are an x86 company through and through and will be focusing on their “opportunity to lead in that area.”

• “We are absolutely going to invest in high-performance x86.”

• expecting new product releases throughout the year and into 2016 to “set [them] on the right path”

• getting rid of Bulldozer and subsequent revisions in 2016

• core for the future is Zen, which is confirmed to be using simultaneous multithreading (SMT) in favor of clustered multithreading (CMT) like Bulldozer etc.

• Zen launching first as a new series of FX chips

• AMD is promising 40 percent increase in instructions per clock, partially from switching to a new process node (not yet specified what it is)

• new socket labeled AM4

• AM4 introduces support for DDR4 modules, but “other implementations of the chipset will continue to use DDR3” (confusing… some MBs can use DDR3 and others can’t?)

• fully confirmed that new GPU is coming later this quarter and features HBM

• rumors state that this will limit the card to 4GB of memory, though that is unconfirmed

• OEM 300-series cards confirmed as rebrands “with a few tweaks”

• R9 380 is a variant of the R9 285, R9 370 is a variant of the R9 265, R9 360 is a variant of the R9 260

• mobile GPUs are also rebrands of 200-series with higher clock speeds, but lower memory bandwidth

• overall, pitching a resurgence of their high-end CPUs & GPUs through 2016

Lily coming out with personal videographer drone

Source 1: linustechtips.com/lily-coming-out-with-personal… OP: 907rider

Source 2: lily.camera

• shoots in 1080p60 or slo-mo 720p120

• 12MP stills

• 20 minute flight time

• tracking device in waterproof case (and the drone is waterproof as well)

• looks like you can give it commands like “follow” or “lead”

• “No setup required. Just throw Lily into the air to start a new video.”

• no controller required

• compact & portable

Intel announces a new line of SSDs aimed at data centers (S3510)

Source 1: linustechtips.com - intel announces a new line of ssds aimed a OP: Bouzoo

Source 2: anandtech.com/show/9226/intel-releases-ssd-dc-s3510

Source 3: tweaktown.com - intel announces new dc s3510 ssds aimed data center

• (SET) MLC NAND 16nm flash.

• Micron produces and owns all 16nm NAND.

• All Intel's client SSDs are still utilizing 20nm NAND.

• S3510 is the first enterprise SSD to utilize sub-19nm NAND

• Native 256-bit AES encryption.

• Full power loss protection that protects all data, including in-flight user writes, from sudden power losses.

• Available in sizes ranging from 80GB to 1.6TB.

• Endurance is also equal to the S3500 and comes in at 0.3 drive writes per day for five years

• 5-year warranty and available through OEM channel

• Many applications don't necessarily benefit much from higher performance of PCI-E and NVMe and especially hyperscale customers are looking at cost and compatibility

The long life of AOL is over, Verizon is buying for 4.4 billion

Source 1: linustechtips.com - the long life of aol is over verizon OP: Alexgoeshigh

Source 2: wsj.com/articles/verizon-to-buy-aol-for-4-4-billion-1431428458

• AOL shares rose 18% in morning trading to $50.18. Verizon shares fell 1.7% to $48.98.

• Acquisition would give Verizon access to advanced technology AOL has developed for selling ads and delivering high-quality Web video.

• “Certainly the subscription business and the content businesses are very noteworthy. For us, the principal interest was around the ad tech platform,” said Verizon’s president of operations, John Stratton.

• Offering digital video-over-wireless connections represents a growth avenue in coming years for Verizon.

• Verizon has said it plans to launch a video service focused on mobile devices featuring shorter snippets rather than 30 or 60 minute shows this summer.

• Verizon already has relationships with many media providers because of its FiOS TV service, which is available in 5.6 million U.S. households.

• A year ago, Verizon agreed to pay what people familiar with the matter said was around $200 million to buy Intel Corp.’s fledgling OnCue Internet video service.

• Under the leadership of Tim Armstrong, a former Google Inc. executive who took over as chief executive of AOL in 2009, AOL has invested heavily in ad technology—including an automated, or “programmatic” platform that allows marketers to bid for inventory electronically.

• Mr. Armstrong will continue to lead AOL’s operations, the companies said.

Google's Self-Driving Cars Don't Crash, People Crash Into Them

Source 1: linustechtips.com - googles self driving cars dont crash people OP: Suika

Source 2: theverge.com - google self driving car 11 accidents not at fault

• Google's self-driving cars have been involved in four accidents since last September.

• there have been 11 accidents in total, all minor, which Google asserts were never the fault of the car.

• Seven involved another vehicle rear-ending the Google car, two were sideswipes, and one involved another car traveling through a red light.

• Two conclusions:

  • its sensors and algorithms are statistically far more attentive and less error-prone than a human driver is

  • the error-prone behavior of the humans around it are feeding into better algorithms, making the Google car even safer than it already was.

• pure PR play by Google to spin the accidents in a way that makes its self-driving cars look good, although they do look good.

• Ford’s Smart Mobility project; "Remote Repositioning," allows an individual seated at a computer to remotely drive a vehicle that's potentially thousands of miles away, using nothing more than an LTE connection and a few cameras and sensors.

• In, for instance, China, if you're not aggressive to try to turn left, there will be people that will walk in front of you all day long. And an autonomous vehicle would end up sitting there forever. And a driver normally just has to kind of say, "Alright, I'm going," and the people will stop and the car heads through.

Mozilla Launches A New Firefox Version Without DRM Support

Source 1: linustechtips.com - mozilla launches a new firefox version w OP: Xsilentx

Source 2: support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/enable-drm

Source 3: techcrunch.com - mozilla launches a new firefox version without drm

Source 4: download.cdn.mozilla.net/pub/firefox/releases/38.0/win32-EME-free/

Source 5: techcrunch.com - mozilla relents says it will implement html5 drm so

Source 6: mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/38.0/releasenotes/

• Almost exactly a year ago, Mozilla announced that it would (very reluctantly) implement the HTML5 DRM specs into Firefox.

• This week, the organization officially launched HTML5 DRM support with the release of Firefox 38.

• The default version of the browser now supports the Encrypted Media Extensions API on Windows desktop (Vista+) and automatically downloads the Adobe Content Decryption Module (CDM).

  • This will allow users to watch content from Netflix and similar services without having to deal with plugins like Microsoft’s Silverlight, which is on its way out, and Adobe’s Flash

  • Netflix is already testing Firefox’s DRM solution to stream content to its subscribers.

• the clash between the closed-source DRM solution and the free and open Firefox browsers didn’t sit well with long-time Firefox and open source supporters.

  • They can now download the DRM-free version of Firefox.

Microsoft reveals Windows 10 Editions

Source 1: linustechtips.com - microsoft reveals windows 10 editions OP: Goodbytes

Source 2: blogs.windows.com/bloggingwindows/2015/05/13/introducing-windows-10-editions

Source 3: blogs.windows.com/bloggingwindows/2015/05/14/candy-crush-saga-coming-to

• Full versions of Windows 10 Home, Windows 10 Mobile and Windows 10 Pro as a free and easy upgrade for qualifying Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1 devices that upgrade in the first year after launch.

• Available this summer.

• To be delivered as a service.

• 3.9 million and growing Windows Insiders beta testing.

• Windows 10 Home.

  • Consumer-focused desktop edition

  • For PCs, tablets and 2-in-1s.

  • Cortana, the world’s most personal digital assistant

  • the new Microsoft Edge web browser

  • Continuum tablet mode for touch-capable devices

  • Windows Hello face-recognition

  • iris and fingerprint login

• Windows 10 Mobile:

  • For smaller, mobile, touch-centric devices like smartphones and small tablets.

  • Windows 10 Mobile will enable some new devices to take advantage of Continuum for phone, so people can use their phone like a PC when connected to a larger screen.

• Windows 10 Pro

  • Desktop edition for PCs, tablets and 2-in-1s.

  • Has many extra features to meet the diverse needs of small businesses.

  • Supports remote and mobile productivity scenarios and take advantage of cloud technologies.

• Windows 10 Enterprise:

  • Builds on Windows 10 Pro

  • Available to Volume Licensing customers

  • Adding advanced features for medium and large sized organizations.

  • Protects against modern security threats targeted at devices, identities, applications and sensitive company information.

  • Supports the broadest range of options for operating system deployment and comprehensive device and app management.

• Windows 10 Education

  • Builds on Windows 10 Enterprise

  • Designed to meet the needs of schools – staff, administrators, teachers and students.

  • Available through academic Volume Licensing

  • Paths for schools and students using Windows 10 Home and Windows 10 Pro devices to upgrade to Windows 10 Education.

• Windows 10 Mobile Enterprise

  • For business customers on smartphones and small tablets.

  • available to our Volume Licensing customers

  • adds flexible ways for businesses to manage updates

  • Will incorporate the latest security and innovation features as soon as they are available

• There will also be versions of Windows 10 Enterprise and Windows 10 Mobile Enterprise for industry devices like ATMs, retail point of sale, handheld terminals, etc.

• N.B.:

  • Cortana will be available on Windows 10 at launch in select markets.

  • Windows Hello requires a specialized, illuminated infrared camera for facial recognition or iris detection or a fingerprint reader which supports the Windows Biometric Framework.

• Windows will contain Solitaire, Hearts, Minesweeper, and rather controversially; Candy Crush Saga and other games from King that will be added in the future.

FTC Rules In Favor Of Tesla, Direct-To-Consumer Sales Legal

Source 1: linustechtips.com - ftc rules in favor of tesla direct t OP: Silberdrachi

Source 2: techdrive.co/FTC-Tesla

Source 3: freep.com/story/money/business/2015/05

• Last Fall Gov. Rick Snyder signed a law discouraging manufacturers from selling cars directly to customers.

• While it did not name Tesla, it was adopted just as Tesla was working to expand its network of company-owned retail stores.

• "States should allow consumers to choose not only the cars they buy, but also how they buy them," three senior FTC staff members said in an 11-page letter and a summary posted on the agency's website on Monday.

• "A fundamental principle of competition is that consumers – not regulation – should determine what they buy and how they buy it," the the FTC said. "Consumers may benefit from the ability to buy cars directly from manufacturers – whether they are shopping for luxury cars or economy vehicles. The same competition principles should apply in either case."

• The FTC has limited power. It is only able to advise states about what is in the best interest of consumers and cannot force Michigan to change its laws.

• State Sen. Darwin Booher, R-Evart,  has introduced a bill that would create a new category of vehicles called "autocycles," (three-wheel motor vehicles and enclosed motorcycles) and would allow manufacturers to sell those directly to consumers.

• The FTC said Booher's bill doesn't go far enough.

Scientists have invented one Trillion FPS camera

Source 1: linustechtips.com - scientists have invented a new tr OP: Prashant Nani X

Source 2: sciencealert.com - japanese scientists have invented a new trillion

• Called STAMP.

• Can capture events occurring at one-sixth the speed of light.

• Will be used to capture the body's physical and biological processes in far more detail than ever before.

• More than 1,000 times faster than a conventional high-speed camera.

• The technology works by splitting a single light pulse into a fast barrage of rainbow-coloured smaller pulses.

• Each separate colour flash can then be analysed to string together a moving picture of what the object looked like over the time it took the dispersed light pulse to travel through the device."

• Another imaging technique, known as the pump-probe method, can capture frames faster than STAMP, it can only capture one frame at a time.

  • They usually re-run the experiment and take it from different points in the experiment in every run.

• Last August the camera could take 6 frames per shot, and they're now working towards 25. They hope to reach 100.

“Mobile is where the future of gaming lies,” new Konami CEO

Source 1: linustechtips.com/mobile-is-where-the-future… OP: Bouzoo

Source 2: polygon.com/konami-interview-mobile-is-where…

• translated interview with CEO Hideki Hayakawa

• “We will pursue mobile games aggressively. Our main platform will be mobiles. Following the pay-as-you-play model of [existing] games… our games must move from selling things like “items” to selling things like “features.”

• "We saw with these games that even people who buy physical games are motivated to buy extra content. The success of [our current mobile game,] Power pro especially has motivated us to actively push more of our popular series onto mobile than ever before."

• "Gaming has spread to a number of platforms, but at the end of the day, the platform that is always closest to us, is mobile. Mobile is where the future of gaming lies."

• "We hope that our overseas games such as Metal Gear Solid V and Winning Eleven continue to do well, but we are always thinking about how to push our franchises onto mobile there too."

• "With multiplatform games, there's really no point in dividing the market into categories anymore. Mobiles will take on the new role of linking the general public to the gaming world."

• Konami has been moving employees from dedicated roles on PC & console teams to mobile

• departure of Hideo Kojima, creator, director, and writer of the Metal Gear series, has been long rumored, and makes sense with this new focus

• recent cancellation of a new Silent Hill title also goes along with this new focus

Rapid Fire News Topics

 

Oculus releases recommended specs for upcoming CV1 of Rift (and confirmed resolution)

Source 1: linustechtips.com/oculus-recommended-specs… OP: WiiManic

Source 2: oculus.com/the-rifts-recommended-spec…

• GTX 970 or R9 290 or greater

• Intel i5-4590 equivalent or greater

• 8GB+ RAM

• compatible HDMI 1.3 video outpu000000000t

• 2x USB 3.0 ports

• Windows 7 SP1 or newer

• “The goal is for all Rift games and applications to deliver a great experience on this configuration.”

• Rift will be running 2160x1200 at 90Hz split over dual displays (same as the HTC Vive, 1080 per display)

 

Witcher 3 Reviews go live a week before release

Source 1: linustechtips.com/witcher-3-reviews-go-live… OP: carolkarine

Source 2: reddit.com/official_review_thread…

• nothing lower than 8/10 in the provided thread

• metacritic score of 92

• tons of content in the game with some reviewers claiming to have put over 100 hours into the game already

•  

Microsoft’s super-stable video recording arrives (PCs and phones)

Source 1: linustechtips.com/microsofts-super-stable-video-recording… OP: GoodBytes

Source 2: research.microsoft.com/redmond/projects/hyperlapse…

• “no more shakycam”

• “creates smooth and stabilized time lapses from first-person videos”

• available for both Windows PCs and Windows & Android phones

 

Corsair 128B DDR4 memory kits - starting at $1754

Source 1: linustechtips.com/corsair-128gb-ddr4-memory… OP: ahhming

Source 2: pcworld.com/ram-for-the-rich-and-nerdy…

• overkill for the vast majority of users

• 8x 16GB sticks coming in at 3000MHz

• Corsair is not the only brand with a 128GB DDR4 kit - HyperX announced one as well

[Speaker1264]

Great WAN Show guys

[Rappelin]

Luke's impersonation of the Old Man was amazing

[Bandit5317]

Linus, in regards to AMD not coming out with any interesting CPUs lately, what about the Athlon 860k? It's not an APU, it costs $80, and it's a great, quad-core, alternative to the G3258.

[jaggysnake57]

fee-nom freaking fee-nom!

[Speaker1264]

fee-nom freaking fee-nom!

 

Lol, I agree. Also this one kind of irked me, when they were questioning why the self driving car had two sideswipes?  Of course a sideswipe is easily avoided when the car is moving, but if the car was stopped, or possibly turned off and parked on a street.  That could be how it got sideswiped and why it couldn't avoid being sideswiped.

[Ahokas99]

• compatible HDMI 1.3 video outpu000000000t

 

nice :lol: 

[Samfisher]

That old man voice tho...

[Sharif]

Extra classes......

[Guest]

The fawning over Razer marketing at the end really bothered me.

Selling electronics based on how they look and how sparkly the marketing material/brand image is is ruining this industry.

How do you go home and look your desktop and server in the eye after buying a laptop with a soldered-on SSD and RAM because it looked 'sexy'? HOW?! YOU DON'T REALLY LOVE TECH!

[MAXXHEW]

     What really sucks about the Google car is that it is gonna be a snitch... and most likely even worse! We know damn well that Google will be eventually working with a new global law enforcement... the Google car will be equipped with cameras that will report us for any minor little traffic violation, we will receive tickets in the mail, or through email in real time. We (non autonomous drivers/operators) may even be remotely immobilized while driving... then locked into our vehicle, then automatically and forcefully directed to the traffic violation holding facility until we can prove or pay for our innocence. Or, we may be fined immediately electronically through our ecommerce accounts.

     Worse case is when the autonomous vehicles become armed due to thieves, carjackers, or vandals... they will have the right to harm, or temporarily incapacitate us if it feels it needs to defend itself ,or it's occupants. Google car looks all innocent now, but they are misleading us with their short term reasoning, we are being brainwashed.

 

      MARK MY WORDS - GOOGLE CAR IS A DANGEROUS SECRET AGENT RAT BASTARD SON OF A BITCH KILLER... IT HAS NO COMPASSION, COMMON SENSE, OR CONSCIENCE!!!

 

 

P.S.  Come back to this thread in 25 years... you will see what I meant.

[Razor512]

AMD lost a lot of business by abandoning the high end market. While it is true that AMD offers better performance for the money in the area where they actually compete, but their name has so much mud on it that people still avoid them.

 

If you have seen how the average consumer views computer components. I have seen people skip a faster AMD system simply because it did not have an intel CPU.

 

I have worked with people who wanted a new PC and had a tight budget, and thus I recommended a build using 8GB of RAM, Phemon II x6 1045t (would be overclocked since the stock cooler on that chip can handle a 300-350MHz overclock with hardly any temperature increase), radeon HD 4650, 500GB 7200RPM hard drive, windows 7.

 

They saw AMD and assumed it would be slow and wouldn't handle youtube videos, and their flash games, and trying to explain benchmarks to a user who doesn't know which version of windows their current system is running, is difficult, and the user eventually went with a HP system using a pentium dual core, 320GB hard drive, 3GB RAM and onboard video, but came with a monitor, keyboard, mouse, and speakers. They saw intel, and the extra monitor (even though it was a tiny one with a 1366x768 display (worst than their 20 inch monitor that came with their old dell system). (I eventually was called in to repair the PC after the motherboard died a few months after the warranty ended. (swollen capacitors that were simple to replace).

 

Overall, for AMD, even if a user can get something better for the money, they will actively avoid it because they do not understand benchmarking, and assume that all of them are slow, even slower than the entry level intel chips. And that is because they have no high end chips. They only see prebuilt systems with them, being very entry level, while they see intel chips in super high end systems. It is kinda like how a cheap car company may mention any possible connection available to a high end company. Or when a company will make a camera that is overpriced but objectively performs much worst than many cameras in their price range, but they sell and their misguided fans will say stuff like (but that competing camera does not have a Carl Zeiss lens (even though it was not made by them, but instead made by a cheap Chinese company and the design was approved by Zeiss).

 

By having even a single component with any kind of lineage linking the brand of the component to something world class and high end, is enough to make people spend more money on less power.

[Violeta]

Selling electronics based on how they look and how sparkly the marketing material/brand image is is ruining this industry.

 

So, you don't consider "whatever piece of product" first because of its aesthetics, secondary its properties? Please...  :rolleyes:

[Guest]

So, you don't consider "whatever piece of product" first because of its aesthetics, secondary its properties?

 

If I did, I would be on a forum for discussing fashion or jewelery, not computers.

[Violeta]

If I did, I would be on a forum for discussing fashion or jewelery, not computers.

This is a massive, ignorant insult to the whole PC modding community and especially the design crews at all manufacturers. Not to mention, Linus is a huge advocate for aesthetics and quality feel as part of a product's pros and cons, because it's what makes a brand recognizable and desirable (Apple, Razer, Corsair, Fractal among the many).

[Guest]

This is a massive, ignorant insult to the whole PC modding community and especially the design crews at all manufacturers. Not to mention, Linus is a huge advocate for aesthetics and quality feel as part of a product's pros and cons, because it's what makes a brand recognizable and desirable (Apple, Razer, Corsair, Fractal among the many).

 

It's not an insult.

Is saying that people in important positions should be judged based on their skills and actions and not their looks an insult to people who take care of their appearance? No.

 

I've got nothing against aesthetics or people appreciating aesthetics, but as a computer enthusiast I can't help but think that computers are such an important class of tool in the modern day that it is irresponsible to let aesthetics make you compromise on functionality.

Corsair and Fractal use aesthetics and brand image to charge extra for well designed hardware. I've got nothing against that.

Razer and Apple, especially Apple with their iOS devices use aesthetics and brand image to persuade people into buying hardware that's artificially limiting the user to make him more dependent on the manufacturer and that's abominable and must stop.

[Bouzoo]

Woke up and was shocked to see I got featured 2 times. Now I just need to teach Linus how to pronounce my nickname.

[homework]

in response to the Oculus releases recommended specs. I really think you guys need a video explaining low persistence panels and low persistence modes on monitors like lightboost, ulmb, benq blur reduction. Low persistence lcds have been out since 2011 and they get very little or no coverage. Like you guys can say over and over again how important a minimum frame rate is and how important it is to maintain the constant fps, but no one that hasnt seen a low persistence monitor could understand why.

[7850OC]

i only wonder why the time link of AMD is one more time broken (and the others work fine lol)