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takyon writes:

Micron Spills on GDDR6X: PAM4 Signaling For Higher Rates, Coming to NVIDIA's RTX 3090

It would seem that Micron this morning has accidentally spilled the beans on the future of graphics card memory technologies – and outed one of NVIDIA's next-generation RTX video cards in the process. In a technical brief that was posted to their website, dubbed "The Demand for Ultra-Bandwidth Solutions", Micron detailed their portfolio of high-bandwidth memory technologies and the market needs for them. Included in this brief was information on the previously-unannounced GDDR6X memory technology, as well as some information on what seems to be the first card to use it, NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 3090.

[...] At any rate, as this is a market overview rather than a technical deep dive, the details on GDDR6X are slim. The document links to another, still-unpublished document, "Doubling I/O Performance with PAM4: Micron Innovates GDDR6X to Accelerate Graphics Memory", that would presumably contain further details on GDDR6X. None the less, even this high-level overview gives us a basic idea of what Micron has in store for later this year.

The key innovation for GDDR6X appears to be that Micron is moving from using POD135 coding on the memory bus – a binary (two state) coding format – to four state coding in the form of Pulse-Amplitude Modulation 4 (PAM4). In short, Micron would be doubling the number of signal states in the GDDR6X memory bus, allowing it to transmit twice as much data per clock.

[...] According to Micron's brief, they're expecting to get GDDR6X to 21Gbps/pin, at least to start with. This is a far cry from doubling GDDR6's existing 16Gbps/pin rate, but it's also a data rate that would be grounded in the limitations of PAM4 and DRAM. PAM4 itself is easier to achieve than binary coding at the same total data rate, but having to accurately determine four states instead of two is conversely a harder task. So a smaller jump isn't too surprising.

The leaked Ampere-based RTX 3090 seems to be Nvidia's attempt to compete with AMD's upcoming RDNA2 ("Big Navi") GPUs without lowering the price of the usual high-end "Titan" GPU (Titan RTX launched at $2,499). Here are some of the latest leaks for the RTX 30 "Ampere" GPU lineup.

Also at Guru3D and Wccftech.

Previously: GDDR5X Standard Finalized by JEDEC
SK Hynix to Begin Shipping GDDR6 Memory in Early 2018
Samsung Announces Mass Production of GDDR6 SDRAM

Related: PCIe 6.0 Announced for 2021: Doubles Bandwidth Yet Again (uses PAM4)

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

Sounds of action: Using ears, not just eyes, improves robot perception: Carnegie Mellon builds dataset capturing interaction of sound, action, vision:

People rarely use just one sense to understand the world, but robots usually only rely on vision and, increasingly, touch. Carnegie Mellon University researchers find that robot perception could improve markedly by adding another sense: hearing.

In what they say is the first large-scale study of the interactions between sound and robotic action, researchers at CMU's Robotics Institute found that sounds could help a robot differentiate between objects, such as a metal screwdriver and a metal wrench. Hearing also could help robots determine what type of action caused a sound and help them use sounds to predict the physical properties of new objects.

[...] To perform their study, the researchers created a large dataset, simultaneously recording video and audio of 60 common objects -- such as toy blocks, hand tools, shoes, apples and tennis balls -- as they slid or rolled around a tray and crashed into its sides. They have since released this dataset, cataloging 15,000 interactions, for use by other researchers.

The team captured these interactions using an experimental apparatus they called Tilt-Bot -- a square tray attached to the arm of a Sawyer robot. It was an efficient way to build a large dataset; they could place an object in the tray and let Sawyer spend a few hours moving the tray in random directions with varying levels of tilt as cameras and microphones recorded each action.

YouTube video: Tilt-Bot in Action

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

Black silicon photodetector breaks the 100% efficiency limit:

Aalto University researchers have developed a black silicon photodetector that has reached above 130% efficiency. Thus, for the first time, a photovoltaic device has exceeded the 100% limit, which has earlier been considered as the theoretical maximum for external quantum efficiency.

"When we saw the results, we could hardly believe our eyes. Straight away we wanted to verify the results by independent measurements," says Prof. Hele Savin, head of the Electron Physics research group at Aalto University.

The independent measurements were carried out by the German National Metrology Institute, Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), which is known to provide the most accurate and reliable measurement services in Europe.

Head of the PTB Laboratory of Detector Radiometry, Dr. Lutz Werner comments, "After seeing the results, I instantly realized that this is a significant breakthrough—and at the same time, a much-welcomed step forward for us metrologists dreaming of higher sensitivities."

[...] The results leading to the record efficiency has been accepted for publication in Physical Review Letters in an article titled "Black-silicon ultraviolet photodiodes achieve external quantum efficiency above 130%."

Garin et al. Black-silicon ultraviolet photodiodes achieve external quantum efficiency above 130%, Physical Review Letters (2020). arxiv.org/abs/1907.13397

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

This online calculator can predict your stroke risk:

The study found that stroke risk increased consistently with metabolic syndrome[*] severity even in patients without diabetes. Doctors can use this information -- and a scoring tool developed by a UVA Children's pediatrician and his collaborator at the University of Florida -- to identify patients at risk and help them reduce that risk.

"We had previously shown that the severity of metabolic syndrome was linked to future coronary heart disease and type 2 diabetes," said UVA's Mark DeBoer, MD. "This study showed further links to future ischemic strokes."

DeBoer developed the scoring tool, an online calculator to assess the severity of metabolic syndrome, with Matthew J. Gurka, PhD, of the Department of Health Outcomes and Biomedical Informatics at the University of Florida, Gainesville. The tool is available for free at https://metscalc.org/.

[...] The overall relationship between metabolic syndrome severity and stroke risk was clear, however. And this suggests people with metabolic syndrome can make lifestyle changes to reduce that risk. Losing weight, exercising more, choosing healthy foods -- all can help address metabolic syndrome and its harmful effects.

DeBoer hopes that the tool he and Gurka developed will help doctors guide patients as they seek to reduce their stroke risk and improve their health and well-being.

"In case there are still individuals out there debating whether to start exercising or eating a healthier diet," DeBoer said, "this study provides another wake-up call to motivate us all toward lifestyle changes."

[*] Metabolic syndrome on Wikipedia:

Metabolic syndrome is a clustering of at least three of the five following medical conditions: abdominal obesity, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, high serum triglycerides, and low serum high-density lipoprotein (HDL).

[...] In the U.S., about 25% of the adult population has metabolic syndrome, a proportion increasing with age

Journal Reference:
Risk of Ischemic Stroke Increases Over the Spectrum of Metabolic Syndrome Severity, Stroke (DOI: 10.1161/STROKEAHA.120.028944)

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

Digital imaging pioneer Russell Kirsch dies at 91 – TechCrunch:

Russell Kirsch, whose research going back to the '50s underlies the entire field of digital imaging, died earlier this week at the age of 91. It's hard to overstate the impact of his work, which led to the first digitally scanned photo and the creation of what we now think of as pixels.

Born to Russian and Hungarian immigrant parents in 1929, Kirsch attended NYU, Harvard and MIT, eventually landing a job at the National Bureau of Standards (later the National Institutes of Science and Technology) that he would keep for the rest of his working life.

Although he researched, coded and theorized for 50 years and even after his retirement, his most famous accomplishment is no doubt the first scanned digital image — decades before the first digital camera.

[...] This foundational work led directly to the creation of methods, algorithms and storage techniques for digital images that would inform decades of computer science. Kirsch continued his work on early AI right up until retirement, and even then continued tinkering with his idea of adaptive pixels that would enable much clearer images at lower resolutions. The idea has merit, naturally, though memory and bandwidth aren't quite the bottlenecks they once were.

Throughout his life Kirsch and his wife, who survives him with their children, were also travelers, climbers and artists. No doubt his rich life contributed to his important work and vice versa.

Kirsch's official obituary and guest book are here.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Is Xiaomi's transparent TV the biggest design fail ever? (archive)

Many strange things have happened in 2020, so it's probably the perfect year for Chinese tech company Xiaomi to announce the world's first completely transparent TV. And if you're wondering that the point of it is, we're here to tell you that you're not alone.

Available in China from from 16 August, the snappily named Xiaomi Mi TV LUX OLED Transparent Edition will cost ¥49,999 ($7,200/£5,500), offering "an ultra-immersive viewing experience" in which "images seem to be suspended in the air". That is, we assume, as long as your TV isn't positioned against a wall.

[...] In a blog post on its website (adorned with several images of women in extravagant ballgowns standing behind transparent TVs, because why not?), Xiaomi calls the TV "a new way to consume visual content previously only seen in science fiction films". Unlike traditional TVs, the Mi TV LUX Transparent Edition "creatively embeds all the processing units in its base stand". The TV sports a 55-inch OLED panel with a 120Hz refresh rate and 150000:1 static contrast ratio.

Get your transparent APNGs ready.

Also at The Verge.

Original Submission

Have you ever been attacked by a wild animal? What happened? Your humble editor has so far succumbed only to being sprayed by a skunk. Weeks later — much to my dismay (and anyone around me) — after heavy exertion, those putrid oils were still coming out of my pores!

What prompted the opening query? We had three(!) different story submissions about animal attacks... be careful out there!

Bald Eagle Attacks Woman Along Lake Superior -- Sott.net

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for guy_:

Bald Eagle attacks woman along Lake Superior:

The aggressive bald eagle was seen attacking the woman Thursday morning just 100 yards away from the Cascade Lodge and Restaurant along Highway 61 in Lutsen.

Head Kitchen Manager Bernie Banks ran to help the woman — a guest at the lodge — using his chef's jacket to safely stop the raptor from charging on.

"I just took off my jacket and threw it over him and tried my best to get him off of her while not hurting the bird or hurting her anymore without me getting hurt, alright," Banks said.

[...] "It was terrifying. I'm just thankful it was a young bird and not a full grown bird because it was huge and strong. It was something else," Banks said.

The woman was not severely injured thanks in part to the jeans on her legs.

"He had both of his claws in her. He was trying to get at her with is[sic] beak. I just happened to top[sic] get my jacket over his head in time because he was trying. I think it would have been pretty bad if he would have latched on to her with his beak," Banks said.

More details at: AP and Duluth News Tribune.

Bison Pulls Off Woman's Jeans in Attack at US State Park Caught on Video

An Anonymous Coward writes:

How the 8086 processor handles power and clock internally:

One under-appreciated characteristic of early microprocessors is the difficulty of distributing power inside the integrated circuit. While a modern processor might have 15 layers of metal wiring, chips from the 1970s such as the 8086 had just a single layer of metal, making routing a challenge. Similarly, clock signals must be delivered to all parts of the chip to keep it in synchronization.

The photo below shows the 8086's die under a microscope. The metal layer on top of the chip is visible, with the silicon substrate and polysilicon wiring hidden underneath. Around the outside of the die, tiny bond wires connect pads on the die to the external pins. The 8086 has a power pad at the top and ground pads at the top and bottom. Each power and ground pad has two bond wires connected to support twice the current. You can see the wide metal traces from the power and ground pads; these distribute power throughout the chip.

Though orders of magnitude less capable than the processors of today, there was still plenty going on "under the hood" to make it happen. The article also has many pics of the 8086 die with various traces highlighted to ease identification.

Previously:
(2020-06-27) Die Shrink: How Intel Scaled Down the 8086 Processor
(2020-05-21) Extracting ROM Constants from the 8087 Math Coprocessor's Die

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for nutherguy:

Fabulous fossil preserves eyes of 429-million-year-old trilobite:

[...] trilobites fascinating because there are so many examples in the fossil record over such a long period of time, given that they thrived for over 250 million years. Studying their evolution is enlightening in part because odds are good for finding excellent specimens.

[...] The fossil in question comes from 429-million-year-old sedimentary rocks in the Czech Republic. It's a centimeter-long trilobite called Aulacopleura koninckii that split in half as the rock layer was peeled apart. The shape of the structures in one of its two eyes is nicely visible, with bits split between the two halves.

Like other early arthropods, trilobites had compound eyes—think about the many-faceted cluster of a fly's eye. Each unit in that cluster is called an "ommatidium." At the top of each ommatidium is a lens, with cone cells beneath it that also help focus incoming light. That light is carried down through a stalk-like "rhabdom" to reach the receptor cells that send signals to the brain. The researchers could make out each of these components in the fossil.

[...] Most notably, the makeup of the lens and cone pair is a little unclear, with questions about whether trilobites formed useful lenses using the mineral calcite, as some organisms do today. These researchers found an older (over 500-million-years-old) trilobite eye a few years ago and noted a meager, non-calcite lens that left the refractive work to beefy cone cells.

This trilobite eye looks different. The cone appears to be minuscule, while the lens is considerably thicker. Even a thicker lens made of chitin isn't refractive enough to focus light underwater, but it would be up to the task with calcite inside. The researchers suspect that's the case here.

Journal Reference:
Brigitte Schoenemann, Euan N. K. Clarkson. Insights into a 429-million-year-old compound eye [open], Scientific Reports (DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-69219-0)

Original Submission

takyon writes:

The Panopticon Is Already Here (archive)

Xi Jinping is using artificial intelligence to enhance his government's totalitarian control—and he's exporting this technology to regimes around the globe.

[...] Xi has said that he wants China, by year's end, to be competitive with the world's AI leaders, a benchmark the country has arguably already reached. And he wants China to achieve AI supremacy by 2030.

Xi's pronouncements on AI have a sinister edge. Artificial intelligence has applications in nearly every human domain, from the instant translation of spoken language to early viral-outbreak detection. But Xi also wants to use AI's awesome analytical powers to push China to the cutting edge of surveillance. He wants to build an all-seeing digital system of social control, patrolled by precog algorithms that identify potential dissenters in real time.

[...] China already has hundreds of millions of surveillance cameras in place. Xi's government hopes to soon achieve full video coverage of key public areas. Much of the footage collected by China's cameras is parsed by algorithms for security threats of one kind or another. In the near future, every person who enters a public space could be identified, instantly, by AI matching them to an ocean of personal data, including their every text communication, and their body's one-of-a-kind protein-construction schema. In time, algorithms will be able to string together data points from a broad range of sources—travel records, friends and associates, reading habits, purchases—to predict political resistance before it happens. China's government could soon achieve an unprecedented political stranglehold on more than 1 billion people.

Early in the coronavirus outbreak, China's citizens were subjected to a form of risk scoring. An algorithm assigned people a color code—green, yellow, or red—that determined their ability to take transit or enter buildings in China's megacities. In a sophisticated digital system of social control, codes like these could be used to score a person's perceived political pliancy as well.

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

Forensic research proves that textile fibres can be transferred between clothing in the absence of contact:

Breakthrough forensic research at Northumbria University, Newcastle, has revealed for the first time that textile fibers can, under certain circumstances, be transferred between clothing in the absence of contact.

This new forensic discovery has not been demonstrated before and could have a major implication for fiber evidence in certain criminal cases.

Researchers within Northumbria University's Department of Applied Sciences have proved that contactless transfer of fibers between garments can be possible through airborne travel.

Because it has largely been assumed that fiber transfer only occurs when two surfaces touch, it is generally accepted in a case that two surfaces have, at some point, been in contact with each other. However, researchers at Northumbria University have revealed that under certain conditions, this is not necessarily always the case.

[...] The results of this study demonstrate that when certain strict conditions are met (i.e. time, sheddability of garment, proximity and confined space), airborne transfer of fibers can occur in forensic scenarios, and that these could be in potentially significant numbers for fiber types, such as cotton and polyester.

The results of this study define a set of circumstances that can be used as a baseline to evaluate the likelihood of an alleged activity being conducive to contactless transfer.

[...] [Dr. Ray Palmer] said: "This study was designed so that the experimental parameters were as conducive to contactless transfer as possible, whilst still maintaining a real-life scenario. Since there is a paucity of published studies relating to contactless transfer, the results obtained from this study will be useful to forensic practitioners as a baseline in evaluating how likely it is that a proposed activity or case circumstance has resulted in contactless transfer."

Journal Reference:
Kelly J. Sheridan, Evelina Saltupyte, Ray Palmer, et al. A study on contactless airborne transfer of textile fibres between different garments in small compact semi-enclosed spaces [$], Forensic Science International (DOI: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2020.110432)

Original Submission

Freeman writes:

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/08/disney-will-show-a-lego-star-wars-holiday-special-on-wookie-life-day/

Do you have celebration plans for Wookiee Life Day? According to Disney, it's the galaxy's "most cheerful and magical holiday," so on November 17, the company will celebrate the event on Disney+ with a Lego Star Wars Holiday Special. Set immediately after Rise of the Skywalker, Rey and BB-8 go on a journey through the nine-film timeline that promises to give screen time to goodies and baddies current and past. Except it's all done in Lego, so painted tongues will be firmly in plastic cheeks.

Hopefully, somewhat better than the lesser known: Star Wars Holiday Special

The Star Wars Holiday Special^[a] is a 1978 American television special set in the universe of the Star Wars science-fiction media franchise. Directed by Steve Binder, it was the first Star Wars spin-off film, set between the events of the original film and The Empire Strikes Back (1980). It stars the main cast of the original Star Wars and introduces the character of Boba Fett, who appeared in later films.
[...]
The special is notorious for its extremely negative reception and has never been rebroadcast nor officially released on home video.^[2][3] It has become something of a cultural legend due to the underground quality of its existence. It has been viewed and distributed in off-air recordings made from its original telecast by fans as bootleg copies, and it has also been uploaded to content-sharing websites.

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

SpaceX Starlink speeds revealed as beta users get downloads of 11 to 60Mbps:

Beta users of SpaceX's Starlink satellite-broadband service are getting download speeds ranging from 11Mbps to 60Mbps, according to tests conducted using Ookla's speedtest.net tool. Speed tests showed upload speeds ranging from 5Mbps to 18Mbps.

The same tests, conducted over the past two weeks, showed latencies or ping rates ranging from 31ms to 94ms. This isn't a comprehensive study of Starlink speeds and latency, so it's not clear whether this is what Internet users should expect once Starlink satellites are fully deployed and the service reaches commercial availability. We asked SpaceX several questions about the speed-test results yesterday and will update this article if we get answers.

[...] Beta testers must sign non-disclosure agreements, so these speed tests might be one of the only glimpses we get of real-world performance during the trials. SpaceX has told the Federal Communications Commission that Starlink would eventually hit gigabit speeds, saying in its 2016 application to the FCC that "once fully optimized through the Final Deployment, the system will be able to provide high bandwidth (up to 1Gbps per user), low latency broadband services for consumers and businesses in the US and globally." SpaceX has launched about 600 satellites so far and has FCC permission to launch nearly 12,000.

[...] Although the Ookla speed-test latencies for Starlink don't hit Musk's target of below 20ms, they are below the FCC's 100ms threshold. For competitive online gaming, Ookla says players should be in "winning" shape with latency or ping of 59ms or less, and "in the game" with latency or ping of up to 129ms. The 35 best cities in the world for online gaming have ping rates of 8 to 28ms, an Ookla report last year said.

Latency tests are affected by the distance between the user and the server. The Ookla tests revealed on Reddit showed the tests going to servers in Los Angeles and Seattle; SpaceX's beta tests are slated for the northern US and southern Canada, but a Stop the Cap story says that testers so far are in rural areas of Washington state only.

Original Submission

c0lo writes:

Reuters

Amazon.com can be held liable like other traditional retailers for injuries from defective products sold via its sprawling e-commerce marketplace, a California state appeals court ruled on Thursday. The decision overturned a San Diego Superior Court ruling that the world's biggest online retailer was shielded from liability because it acted as a service provider, which is not subject to California product liability law.

In addition to selling its own inventory, Amazon allows third-party vendors to list products for sale on its website. Such vendors may store their products in Amazon's warehouses or ship them directly to customers.

The appeals court found that Amazon played a pivotal role in every step of plaintiff Angela Bolger's purchase of a replacement laptop battery from Amazon third-party seller Lenoge Technology HK Ltd, which was operating under the fictitious name "E-Life." Bolger alleged that the battery burst into flames while she balanced the laptop on her thighs, resulting in severe burns to her arms, legs and feet.

"Whatever term we use to describe Amazon's role, be it 'retailer,' 'distributor,' or merely 'facilitator,' it was pivotal in bringing the product here to the consumer," the appeals court held.
...

Both Pennsylvania's and Ohio's top courts are currently considering the issue, and federal appeals courts are weighing cases under California and Texas law.

Per aspera ad astra^*... except the "aspera" part is taken by a third party, eh?

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for RandomFactor:

Windows Defender Detected Citrix Services as Malware:

Windows Defender has caused problems for some Citrix customers after deleting two services incorrectly detected as malware.

The problem appears to be caused by the KB2267602 update. Windows Defender users who installed the update may have had their Citrix Broker and HighAvailability services on Delivery Controllers and Cloud Connectors deleted after they were erroneously detected as a trojan.

According to Citrix, impacted users may notice that the Broker service is no longer available in the Services console, that the BrokerService.exe file is missing from the Program Files folder, and an error saying that the Broker service could not be contacted.

Microsoft has released antivirus definition update 1.321.1341.0 to address the problem and Citrix has provided instructions on how to remove the buggy update and install the new one.

Original Submission