Evangelion 3.0+1.0‘s purported sendoff of Hideaki Anno’s iconic mecha anime is finally coming to U.S. theaters later this year—but now GKids has announced it’s getting even more screenings, letting you experience emotional distress in the largest cinema format possible.
Source: Gizmodo – Evangelion 3.0+1.0’s US Release Is Getting the IMAX Treatment
The DisplayPort 2.1 specifications were officially released by VESA on Monday, and this was followed up by USB-IF’s announcement of the release of the 80 Gbps USB4 v2 specifications yesterday. These have have brought to fore the significant engineering efforts put into creating a unified protocol capable of handling the external I/O bandwidth requirements of tomorrow’s computing systems. Today, Intel is announcing the demonstration of early prototypes for next-generation Thunderbolt based on the USB4 v2 and DisplayPort 2.1 specifications.
Intel’s donation of the Thunderbolt 3 specifications to the USB promoters group to form the basis of USB4 has had its share of pros and cons. On one hand, the convergence of the Type-C connector ecosystem theoretically achieved the goal of minimizing end-user confusion, and the royalty-free spec for PCIe tunneling opened up the market to other silicon vendors like ASMedia. However, it also created consumer angst as most of the attractive features of USB4 (such as the 40Gbps bandwidth and compatibility with PCIe tunneling) were entirely optional features. That said, it did enable Intel to market Thunderbolt ports as the Type-C that could do it all. Intel’s demonstration of Next Generation Thunderbolt also included a sneak peek into its specifications, even though certain aspects are yet to be finalized. Before delving deeper into Intel’s press release, a quick recap of the 80 Gbps USB4 v2 specifications announcement is necessary.
USB4 v2 builds upon the multi-protocol tunneling architecture introduced in USB4 by doubling the available bandwidth while maintaining the same port / pins layout and cable structure. This has been achieved by moving the physical layer signal encoding to PAM3 (described in detail in our coverage of 80 Gbps ‘Thunderbolt 5’ last year). This means that existing 40Gbps USB4 cables will be able to support 80Gbps operation also.
The USB4 v2 specifications now allow tunneling of DisplayPort 2.1 signals and up to four PCIe 4.0 lanes. The data and display protocol updates also make it more efficient, with USB data tunneling capable of exceeding 20 Gbps.
One of the key updates in the move to support DisplayPort 2.1 tunneling relates to the maximum total bandwidth for four lanes in UHBR 20 transmission mode. This translates to 80 Gbps, essentially leaving nothing spare on the transmit side for any other protocol. To handle this, USB4 v2 introduces the concept of asymmetric links. In general, a USB4 link uses two bonded high-speed differential signaling pairs to transmit and receive data, allowing for 40 Gbps duplex operation (40 Gbps transmit and 40 Gbps receive) in the symmetric case. However, the lane initialization process can optionally configure the link to have 3 transmitters and one receiver on one side, and 3 receivers and one transmitter on the other. Combined with the higher data rates thanks to PAM3, this can allow the host to send out 120 Gbps, while lowering the receive bandwidth to 40 Gbps. High-resolution displays can be reliably driven without too much of a sacrifice of the bandwidth available on the transmit side for other purposes (like high-speed storage).
The power delivery specifications have also been updated to match the updates made in USB4 v2, and new logo guidelines have been issued for consumer-facing equipment.
Thunderbolt has seen incredible momentum over the last couple of years – triggered mainly by the integration of Thunderbolt controllers inside the high-volume notebook processors starting with Ice Lake. The combination of data, video, and power delivery in one port / cable makes it beneficial to a host of use-cases. In particular, the increasing popularity of hybrid work / hot-desking (monitors / networking etc. behind a dock, allowing multiple employees to just plug in their Thunderbolt-equipped systems at different times) has also served as a fillip to Thunderbolt adoption in the business / office space. Gamers and content creators have an incredible thirst for I/O bandwidth that is served well by Thunderbolt.
As mentioned earlier, Next Generation Thunderbolt takes the USB4 v2 specifications as baseline and makes all of the attractive optional features into mandatory ones. On top of this, Intel’s integration of Thunderbolt into the notebook processors ensures that the implementation is power efficient on the host side. Making Thunderbolt mandatory for Intel Evo and vPro notebooks further cements Intel’s leadership in the USB4 v2 space.
The dynamic bandwidth rebalancing feature allowing tunneling of the highest bandwidth DisplayPort 2.1 streams while still allowing usage of high-bandwidth peripherals is one of the most exciting features of USB4 v2 that is sure to be available in systems equipped with the Next Generation Thunderbolt ports.
Intel’s demonstration included both host and device implementations, with the host configuration shown in the beginning. A discrete GPU’s DisplayPort output is fed into the host controller board, and two Type-C cables fork off, one ostensibly to the display, and another to a dock (device) with a SSD attached.
Aspects such as power delivery limits (Thunderbolt 3 / 4 support up to 15W by default) for the Next-Generation Thunderbolt ports will be clarified in the near future. Intel did not provide any information related to market availability.
Based on a glance through the USB4 v2 specifications and Intel’s description of Next-Generation Thunderbolt, it is clear that Thunderbolt ports will continue to remain the Type-C port that does it all.
Source: AnandTech – Intel Builds On USB4 v2 for 120 Gbps Next Generation Thunderbolt
I require pitch blackness and perfect silence to sleep at night—no room is ever dark enough for me, though I keep trying to find one. If you’re like me, you probably have blackout curtains and a little eye mask, but there are more ways than that to further darken a room. Here are some tips you probably don’t know yet.
Source: LifeHacker – The Best Ways to Darken Your Bedroom (That Aren’t a Blackout Curtain)
The James Webb Space Telescope’s sightseeing tour just provided a fresh look at one of the most recognizable interstellar objects. Researchers have captured their most detailed image yet of the Pillars of Creation, a star-forming nursery in the Eagle Nebula roughly 6,500 light-years away. The near-infrared picture shows even more detail than Hubble’s 2014 snapshot, with an abundance of stars (particularly newborns) in view — there isn’t even a galaxy within sight.
The new stars are the bright red points of light in the scene and are estimated to be ‘just’ a few hundred thousand years old. The red glow of the pillars, not to mention the wavy lines at some edges, are the result of jets and bow shocks that energize hydrogen and push it outward. You don’t see galaxies as the gas and dust of the Milky Way’s interstellar medium blocks more distant objects in such a dense area.
Hubble first imaged the Pillars of Creation in 1995 (see below), but the technology at the time revealed only a fraction of the stars in the region. The 2014 re-do provided considerably more detail, but the visible light snapshot still left the pillars relatively opaque and hid some of the forming stars. The James Webb observation is, in essence, a more complete representation of the nursery’s activity.
This enhanced capture isn’t just meant for show. Scientists hope to revise their star formation models thanks to Webb’s more accurate data for stars, gas and dust. That could improve humanity’s understanding of early star life and, in turn, the universe at large.
Look, Intel’s Arc A770 and Arc A750 graphics cards are fine slices of gaming silicon that serve a desperate need for lower priced GPUs. We’ve put both models through their paces and came away generally pleased with the bang-for-buck proposition of both cards. But the scalper pricing we’re now seeing on eBay? The facial expression of our own
Source: Hot Hardware – Sold Out Intel Arc A770 And A750 GPUs List On Ebay With An Insane Scalper Tax
Two weeks ago was the release of systemd 252-rc1 with introducing the new systemd-measure command, a “support-ended” taint flag for OS images detected past their end-of-support date, and a wide variety of other changes and feature additions. Systemd 252-rc2 is now available for additional testing with various fixes plus a few more additions…
Source: Phoronix – systemd 252-rc2 Released With More Changes To This Key Linux Component
ToolJet is an open source, low-code framework for rapidly building and deploying internal tools. Our codebase is 100% JavaScript and TypeScript.A lone developer in April 2021 started ToolJet…
Source: LXer – Our open source startup journey
Unlike many other architectures, x86 systems support atomic operations that
affect more than one cache line. This support comes at a cost, though, in
terms of overall system performance and, even, security. Over the last few
years, kernel developers have worked to discourage the use of this sort of
“split-lock” operation. Now, though, one group of users is feeling
a little too discouraged, leading to a discussion of how much misery can
appropriately be inflicted upon users who use problematic but
architecturally legal operations.
Source: LWN.net – [$] The search for the correct amount of split-lock misery
Destiny 2’s annual spooky loot event is back and it’s a mess. Festival of the Lost went live yesterday riddled with issues from a bug that blocked quest progress to players being saddled with old, obsolete loot. It was not good, especially for an event that is mostly unchanged from the year prior, despite now sporting…
Source: Kotaku – Destiny 2’s Halloween Event Is On Fire
Only an icy heart is unsentimental about the last summer tomato. Mine was a giant orange Brandywine that I let hang onto the vine far too long, and its destiny was a tomato tart.
Source: LifeHacker – This Tomato Tart Is a Fitting Monument to Your Last Summer Tomato
Japan plans to further loosen cryptocurrency rules by making it easier to list virtual coins, potentially burnishing the country’s allure for Binance and rival foreign digital-asset exchanges. From a report: The body that governs crypto exchanges plans to allow them to list coins without going through its lengthy screening process, unless the tokens are new to Japan’s market, according to documents seen by Bloomberg News. The relaxed rule could take effect as early as December, helping startups compete with established players by smoothing the process of listing tokens and lowering the bar for market entry. The documents outlining the changes were distributed to member firms recently. By March 2024, the Japan Virtual and Crypto assets Exchange Association could also scrap pre-screenings for coins new to the nation, as well as for tokens issued through initial coin or exchange offerings, Vice Chairman Genki Oda said in comments he described as personal views.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Japan To Further Relax Crypto Rules by Easing Listings of Tokens
Apple isn’t just facing unionization efforts among its retail workers. The New York Timesreports about 150 store staff went on strike for an hour Tuesday after negotiations for better pay and working conditions hit an impasse. On Wednesday, they refused to provide a mix of services that included repairing AirPods and managing deliveries.
The striking employees showed support for unions and called for a range of improvements, including the higher income and schedules with two consecutive days off. Apple had offered staff a higher minimum wage of $27.64 AUD (about $17.35 US) in talks with unions, but the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association union called that a “real wage cut” that didn’t account for inflation. That group wants a $31 AUD ($19.53 US) wage roughly equivalent to what American workers get. It’s also difficult to have weekends with the current scheduling, the workers said.
As in the US, there are allegations Apple is using anti-union tactics. The Association claims Apple interfered with labor organizers trying to survey employees ahead of negotiations. Apple has supposedly tried to rush a vote on the deal.
Apple has denied rushing the vote, and said part-time workers could specify four or more days of availability. They also get schedules two weeks in advance. In a statement to The Times, the iPhone maker maintains that it’s “among the highest-paying” companies in Australia and has made “many” improvements to its benefits.
The strike and task refusals were spurred in part by labor action in the US. There, workers at an increasing number of Apple stores have tried to join unions with varying success. Team members at a Towson, Maryland store managed to unionize, but reports surfaced that Apple was supposedly withholding benefits while negotiations with the union took place. At many stores, the company has apparently pushed anti-union talking points that suggested formal representation could make things worse. There’s no certainty American employees will strike like their Australian counterparts, but it’s evident that the outcry is getting louder.
Source: Engadget – Apple store workers go on strike in Australia
Sky watchers are in for a treat later this week, as the Orionid meteor shower is expected to provide a fantastic light show in the sky. This particular meteor shower is compliments of perhaps the most famous space rock, Halley’s Comet.
The Orionid meteor shower is a product of the inbound leg of Halley’s Comet. The Orionids get their name
Source: Hot Hardware – Halley’s Comet Orionid Meteor Shower Will Dazzle Stargazers This Week, How To Catch It
Amazon, already the biggest online retailer in the world, isn’t content with total global domination of commerce. Instead, the company is constantly seeking to expand into new realms. It has a streaming service, a shipping and logistics arm, its own pharmacy, owns the cloud through its web services, runs the largest…
Source: Gizmodo – Amazon Is Getting Into Home Insurance, Kind Of
The team of crypto-nascent developers originally tapped by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey now have a blockchain-based social media platform in the works. Based on the company’s descriptions it’s certainly idealistic, as long as you can parse through all the blockchain jargon to find the kernel of actual ideas…
Source: Gizmodo – The Folks Jack Dorsey Tapped to Make a ‘Decentralized’ Social Platform Now Have a Beta
The Webb Space Telescope has just imaged what might be its most iconic target yet: the Pillars of Creation, a monumental arm of the Eagle Nebula.
Source: Gizmodo – Webb Telescope Shows the Pillars of Creation Like You’ve Never Seen Them Before
Nearly half of the world’s roughly 7,000 known languages four in ten of them exist without an accompanying written component. These unwritten languages pose a unique problem for modern machine learning translation systems, as they typically need to convert verbal speech to written words before translating to the new language and reverting the text back to speech, but one that Meta has reportedly addressed with its latest open-source language AI advancement.
As part of Meta’s Universal Speech Translator (UST) program which is working to develop real-time speech-to-speech translation so that Metaverse denizens can more easily interact (read: sexually harass one another). As part of this project, Meta researchers looked at Hokkien, an unwritten language spoken throughout Asia’s diaspora and one of Taiwan’s official languages.
Machine learning translation systems typically require extensive labelable examples of the language, both written and spoken, to train on — precisely what unwritten languages like Hokkien don’t have. To get around that, “we used speech-to-unit translation (S2UT) to convert input speech to a sequence of acoustic units directly in the path previously pioneered by Meta,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg explained in a Wednesday blog post. “Then, we generated waveforms from the units. In addition, UnitY was adopted for a two-pass decoding mechanism where the first-pass decoder generates text in a related language (Mandarin), and the second-pass decoder creates units.”
“We leveraged Mandarin as an intermediate language to build pseudo-labels, where we first translated English (or Hokkien) speech to Mandarin text, and we then translated to Hokkien (or English) and added it to training data,” he continued. Currently, the system allows for someone who speaks Hokkien to converse with someone who speaks English, albeit stiltedly. The model can only translate one full sentence at a time but Zuckerberg is confident that the technique can eventually be applied to more languages and will improve to the point of offering real-time translation.
In addition to the models and training data that Meta is already open-sourcing from this project, the company is also releasing a first-of-its-kind speech-to-speech translation benchmarking system based on a Hokkien speech corpus called Taiwanese Across Taiwan, as well as “the speech matrix, a large corpus of speech-to-speech translations mined with Meta’s innovative data mining technique called LASER,” Zuckerberg announced. This system will empower researchers to create speech-to-speech translation (S2ST) systems of their own.
Source: Engadget – Meta’s AI translator can interpret unwritten languages
An anonymous reader shares a report: In July, Reddit jumped on the NFT train, launching an NFT-based marketplace that allows users to purchase blockchain-based profile pictures for a fixed rate. Given the general sentiment around NFTs today, you might assume — like me — that the experiment ended poorly. But the opposite’s the case apparently .
Today during a panel at TechCrunch Disrupt, Reddit chief product officer Pali Bhat revealed that over three million Redditors have used Reddit’s Vault blockchain wallet to create over three million crypto wallets to date. Most of those — 2.5 million — were created to purchase NFT avatars that can be used as profile pics on the platform, he said.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Redditors Have Created Millions of Crypto Wallets To Buy NFT Avatars
Simu Liu’s next adventure is a globetrotting trip to Amazon. The next Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror special could contain a surprising guest star. Plus, more footage from Supernatural prequel The Winchesters, and what’s coming on Star Trek: Lower Decks and The Walking Dead. To me, my spoilers!
Source: Gizmodo – More Warner Bros/DC Shakeups Claim Another Magical Hero’s Movie
