Intel Arc Tech Talk Focuses on VRR, HDR, and HDMI 2.1

Intel’s PR rep for its Arc discrete graphics has sat down for another “Between Two Monitors” tech chat. The company has promised to continually offer information about Arc prior to its upcoming launch. The rationale is it will allow gamers to have all the info they need prior to purchase. To do that it will be releasing short videos tackling questions from gamers. This week it released a new briefing discussing how Arc would handle Variable Refresh Rates (VRR) and HDR, and there’s talk of support for HDMI 2.1.

Starting with VRR, the GPU world is currently bifurcated between Nvidia’s G-Sync and AMD’s FreeSync. However, in May the Video Electronics Standard Association (VESA) formally announced its own open standard based on Adaptive Sync. This is an attempt to offer an open standard that quantifies a display’s ability to offer variable refresh rates with DisplayPort using various performance tests. This effort was designed to override the competing standards, and hopefully lessen confusion among customers. After all, the average gamer may not be able to parse the various G-Sync and FreeSync versions available, especially with ratings like “G-Sync compatible” and “FreeSync Premium Pro” making things a bit muddier.

To demonstrate Arc’s capabilities in this arena, Ryan Shrout fired up Death Stranding on a 4K, 120Hz Acer monitor using an Arc A750 GPU. He didn’t state which certification the monitor has, only that it supports variable refresh rates. He shows the monitor syncing the refresh rate with the game’s frame rate, which is around 100 FPS/Hz. It’s running at 1440p, so overall the GPU is performing quite well in this game. He states Arc is “fully supporting DisplayPort VRR standards.” He summarizes by stating Arc will support “any and all” VESA Adaptive Sync standard. In addition, the company will also be validating Arc on the over 100 of the most popular VRR displays to ensure a smooth experience at launch. As an aside, it’s not clear by Ryan is wearing two watches in this video; easter egg of some kind?

Moving on to HDR, he says Arc will support it on compliant monitors. However, there are many different certifications for HDR that vary depending on a monitor’s brightness capabilities. Those include Display HDR400, DisplayHDR 600, etc. From there, he mentions that HDR is difficult to show on a video since you’d need an HDR display of your own to see it. Therefore, as proof it’s working he jokingly says Intel spares no expense and has a highly-accurate external testing device. That “device” is a person named Ken, who looks at the monitor and agrees it’s working.

Previous benchmarks released by Intel for its A750 GPU.

Finally, he says the the lower-end Arc GPUs will support HDMI 2.0 natively. That includes the A310, A380, and A580. However, they can be modified with a PCON chip to support HDMI 2.1. That decision will be left up to the partners making the GPUs though. The higher-end GPUs, which includes the Arc A750 and the A770, will support HDMI 2.1 natively. A chyron on the screen also states all Arc GPUs will support DisplayPort 2.0 as well. The PCON chip he mentions performs a protocol conversion from DisplayPort 2.0 to HDMI 2.1.

The company recently stated Arc’s launch is “now in sight” but it’s still not clear when that will happen. The big question is whether Intel will be able to launch before AMD and Nvidia’s next-gen GPUs arrive, which might be around September. Intel is probably hoping it can pull it off, as its competition’s GPUs are rumored to be quite powerful. However, that power might come at a great cost, with a lot of heat as well. Therefore, it’s possible Intel is hoping to undercut them on price-to-performance and efficiency.

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EVGA’s Open Air, Carbon Fiber Chassis Will Set You Back $1,599

Back in January EVGA showed off a concept ATX chassis it was working on named the E1. It’s a pretty unique design, to say the least. It uses a carbon fiber frame that “hangs” the motherboard inside of it like an insect caught in a web. This makes it unlike other “open air” case designs, in that you can see your hardware from pretty much any angle. EVGA includes some unique features too, like analog system information gauges that attach to the front I/O. The barebones case is finally available, but in limited quantities. At $1,599, it’s one of the most exotic ATX cases we’ve ever seen. EVGA is also selling some EVGA hardware kits with the E1 too, in case you’ve got a few grand burning a hole in your pocket.

The E1 hasn’t changed much since it first broke cover in January. It’s made entirely from 3k plain weave carbon fiber, and weighs a feathery 2.76lbs. EVGA claims its the lightest case by volume in its class. The motherboard is suspended in mid-air by steel cables via a system EVGA calls “independent suspension.” The case by itself includes just the frame, a vertical GPU mount, and the analog gauges with front I/O ports. The gauges display temps for the CPU, GPU, and system. If you end up ordering just the case, EVGA will ship it to you in a custom-cut Pelican case. The company claims this case has an $800 value.

Now, about those upgrade kits. If you thought paying $1,599 for a chassis was extreme, EVGA says, “hold my screwdriver.” EVGA also offers two “upgrade” kits, and both add thousands of dollars to the initial price.

The first level of upgrade adds the company’s most expensive (and powerful) GPU — the RTX 3090 Ti Kingpin — along with a 1600W PSU to power it. We previously dubbed this GPU package from EVGA to be “outlandish.” That GPU/PSU package alone is $2,500, as it includes a 360mm AIO cooler along with a beefy PSU. However, EVGA is actually cutting people a deal here. The price of the kit only goes up $2,100 if you add the PSU and GPU, so you actually save $400 versus buying them separately. The Kingpin GPU looks like it was made for this chassis too, thanks to its external OLED display.

EVGA provides three upgrade options for the E1, but all of them are extravagant. (Image: EVGA)

If that’s not enough for you, there’s the final kit. This includes the same bits as before, with a motherboard, case, and GPU power cable kit thrown in. The motherboard is the company’s flagship Z690 board, the Dark Kingpin model. Naturally, it’s made for extreme overclocking and has an MSRP of $829. Then there’s the $800 carrying case, for LAN party action.

Finally, it includes the PowerLink 52u. This allows for a 5-into-2 arrangement for the cables powering the GPU. The RTX 3090 Ti Kingpin  requires dual 16-pin connectors from the PSU. This attaches to the power ports on the PSU, and you plug in five eight-pin cables on the other side. It allows for a cleaner look overall; a paramount consideration for an open air chassis. Overall, this is actually good deal, provided you think these components are worth the price tags EVGA wants for them.  You’re paying an extra $1,300 over the previous option, and getting an $800 case, an $829 motherboard, and the GPU adapter.

The unique analog gauges of the E1 gaming rig. (Image: EVGA)

EVGA notes that the kits that include hardware are built to order, so they might take a few weeks to arrive at your command center. We should mention that this week’s Mega Millions is already over $1 billion dollars, so if you think you can’t afford the E1 in any of its forms, you might want to head to your nearest convince store before Friday’s drawing.

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Meta to Clash With Apple Over ‘Open or Closed’ Metaverse

Artist's depiction. Colored light trails sold separately. Living room decor will not transform to match image

It’s the PC vs. Mac war all over again, but this time it’s Meta vs. Apple. At least, that’s what’s about to unfold according to Mark Zuckerberg. In a recent all-hands meeting, the Meta CEO stated the coming battle for control over the metaverse will be not just between it and Apple. It will also be a philosophical battle pitting open standards against Apple’s locked-down, walled garden. If that sounds familiar, it’s almost the exact same battle that played out decades ago between Apple and Microsoft. Apple wanted to control both the hardware and software for Mac, while Microsoft took the opposite approach. It let other companies design hardware for its software, and it ultimately won that battle. Now it appears a similar showdown of ideas will occur in the metaverse.

The comments from Zuckerberg laid out Meta’s position quite clearly. It’s building Virtual Reality (VR) hardware that can be used in various online platforms. So, if you have a Meta Quest 2 headset you’re not confined to only being able to enjoy software or online worlds built by Meta. You could theoretically go to other metaverses, and move valuables around between platforms too. Though Apple has not announced or released its VR headset yet, when it does it’s expected to be typical Apple. That means Apple will be the gatekeeper. There will likely be no way, for example, for you to use an Apple headset in a Meta-based online world. That is, unless Meta makes a version you can download from the Apple App store, which is highly unlikely.

Meta’s secretive Project Cambria will be released this year. (Image: Meta)

In his comments, Zuckerberg also draws a comparison to Android versus iOS as well. iOS is famously locked down, as all apps have to be approved by Apple. However, Android allows side-loading of non-approved apps. Such lax policies have allowed Android to overtake iOS in global market share, but iOS is still top dog in the US. Zuckerberg goes on to say Apple’s strategy has largely worked for mobile though, as it’s hard to argue with the iPhone’s success. However, he noted it’s not clear if that same approach will work for the metaverse. “One of the things I think is interesting is that it’s not really clear upfront whether an open or closed ecosystem is going to be better,” he said. (Open versus closed is much less important than “Facebook” versus literally “Anyone else but Facebook. – Ed)

As proof of its commitment to open standards, last month Meta helped spearhead the development of an open standards group for the metaverse. It was joined in that effort by companies such as Epic Games, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Sony. Apple did not join the consortium, to the surprise of precisely nobody. Apple’s refusal to join the group, combined with its past behavior, seem to signal it will continue its locked-down approach with its VR headset.

Overall, Zuckerberg sees this coming battle as a war over philosophies, according to The Verge. “This is a competition of philosophies and ideas, where they believe that by doing everything themselves and tightly integrating that they build a better consumer experience. And we believe that there is a lot to be done in specialization across different companies, and [that] will allow a much larger ecosystem to exist.”

This crude mockup accompanied one of Apple’s AR/VR patent filings. (Image: USPTO)

Apple is expected to announce its fledgling VR headset at its October hardware event. It would theoretically go on sale sometime in 2023. The company has reportedly been working on its design for over seven years now. It’s also been revamping all its native apps to work with an all-new mixed reality operating system dubbed rOS for Reality Operating System. At the same time, Meta has shown glimpses of its first high-end headset dubbed Project Cambria (above), which is expected to compete directly with Apple’s headset.

Despite Apple losing the war for the lion’s share of the PC market with its “tightly integrated” approach, it remains to be seen if that will work for the meterverse, as Zuckerberg states. Still, it’s hard to count Apple out of anything as it tends to dominate every market it enters. A big factor will be pricing though, as Zuckerberg alludes to in his comments. He says the company breaks even or loses money on every Quest 2 headset it sells. That’s because it just wants people to get into the metaverse, then open their wallets.

In contrast, that is not how Apple operates. It has to have a non-trivial profit margin, or else it wouldn’t bother. That is, unless it can make money on the software side of things like it does with gaming. The metaverse doesn’t work that way though, as you will likely need Apple’s headset to enjoy its company-approved offerings.

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AMD Allegedly Unveiling Ryzen 7000 ‘Raphael’ CPUs on August 5th

For months we’ve speculated on the launch window for AMD’s next-gen CPU platform, and now we have a date. The company has posted an online registration portal for an August 5th (Taipei time) “Meet The Experts” event. The topic of discussion will be the new flagship X670 motherboards from AMD’s partners. However, even though it’s the official AM5 socket launch, AMD’s portal says it will be “Supporting the recent launch of AMD Ryzen™ 7000 Series processors.” So mark it on your calendar: Zen 4 will likely be unveiled on or before August 4th US time, at 9AM PDT.

The event will feature PR reps, aka “the experts” from some of AMD’s partners. That includes ASRock, ASUS, BIOSTAR, GIGABYTE, and MSI. Each rep will likely give a walkthrough of their board’s features and capabilities, while hopefully showing off some new features. Naturally, overclocking will be top-of-mind for many watching. Since the boards shown by AMD are all touted as “flagship” models, we expect that to be covered in-depth. Also, two of the five boards that will be featured are X670 Extreme, which as the name states, allow for extreme overclocking. We’re very curious to see what that will entail, as AM4 wasn’t especially overclockable. AMD has already teased this too, as it showed a Zen 4 CPU running at 5.5GHz at Computex earlier this year.

The event will be a showcase for the motherboards shown below. It will detail “How the Socket AM5 platform and AMD Ryzen™ 7000 Series processors deliver unbeatable performance,” according to the landing page. It’s a given that PCIe 5.0 storage will be covered, as it’s eagerly anticipated by gamers and storage enthusiasts despite there being almost no drives available for purchase currently. AMD’s new memory overclocking profiles will also likely be a topic of discussion.

Another big question is whether any CPUs with offer 3D-stacked V-cache will be available at launch. AMD has already stated there will be Zen 4 CPUs with V-Cache. However, it’s unknown if they will be offered alongside launch CPUs. It might be analogous to the Ryzen 7 5800X3D, which came out long after the original Ryzen 7 5800 was available. There have been periodic hints that AMD might launch more V-cache chips, but nothing has popped up yet.

The timing of the announcement is curious too, as nobody expected AMD to launch this soon. It previously stated Zen 4/AM5 would debut “this fall,” but that’s not until September. Therefore, it’s possible it’ll be showing off its new wares on August 5th, and they’ll go on sale in September.

Regardless, we’ll certainly be tuning in to see what AMD has up its sleeve. The launch of AM5 is one of the most highly-anticipated events in recent PC history. AM4 was a massive success for AMD, so it’s expected to keep the pressure on Intel with a hugely expanded feature set. Plus, AM4 was supported for six years, so this could also be the AMD’s platform for Zen 5 in 2024 as well.

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Roscosmos Will Leave the ISS in 2024 2028

GMT259_21_34_For ESA_Thomas Pesquet_1019_DEXTRE - night pictures

The International Space Station was conceived and built as a symbol of post-Cold War cooperation between America and Russia. And for thirty years, it’s been sailing peacefully in low-earth orbit. However, all that is about to change. Yuri Borisov, the new head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, has finally put paid to his predecessor’s threats that Russia will leave the ISS after 2024 2028.

The reason for the strikeout is because a few days after announcing that it would no-fooling leave the ISS by 2024, Roscosmos is now saying it will stick around until 2028. “The decision to leave the station after 2024 has been made,” said Borisov in a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this week. But that decision appears to have already changed according to a NASA official, which told Reuters that Roscosmos would like to keep flying astronauts to the ISS “until their own orbital outpost is built and operational.”

Whether Russia withdraws or not, the ISS is in no immediate danger. America and other nations — including Russia — have signed on to keep the Station aloft through 2024.

“The withdrawal will take some time,” said Dr. Pavel Luzin, a Russian military and space analyst. “Most likely, we need to interpret this as Russia’s refusal to extend the station’s operation up until 2030.”

Borisov took office just a few weeks ago, after Putin fired his predecessor, Dmitry Rogozin, for poor performance. At about the same time, NASA and Roscosmos signed a seat-sharing agreement. It provided that astronauts and cosmonauts would swap seats on future Soyuz and SpaceX missions to the ISS. What will happen now is uncertain.

Can Russia Just Leave the ISS?

Well… sort of.

Earlier this year, we noted that it makes no sense for Russia to directly imperil the International Space Station. And that point still stands. However, Russia doesn’t have to renew its cooperation agreements beyond 2024 2028 or whenever the country manages to launch its own station. Even if Roscosmos doesn’t physically drop the ISS out of the sky, they can make everyone else’s day worse. For one, during his tenure as chief of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin repeatedly threatened to withdraw access to key ISS infrastructure. To date, we’ve used Soyuz spacecraft to get astronauts back and forth from the ISS. Moreover, the Station uses the Progress spacecraft for altitude-keeping.

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, with the cargo Dragon atop, lifts off from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A in Florida on July 14, 2022, beginning the company’s 25th resupply services mission to the International Space Station. Liftoff occurred at 8:44 p.m. EDT. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Not long ago, it was the United States proposing to sunset the International Space Station. NASA organized its Commercial Resupply and Commercial Crew programs more than a decade ago, in order to diversify American access to LEO. Now, the Dragon-crewed vehicles make our reliance on Russian launch vehicles a little less absolute. Public and private, there are other options in the works.

“We are exploring options to mitigate any potential impacts on the I.S.S. beyond 2024 if in fact Russia withdraws,” said John Kirby, a spokesman for the National Security Council.

Russian Space Station: Coming Real Soon Now

According to The New York Times, Borisov told Russian President Vladimir Putin that withdrawing from the ISS consortium in 2024 would give Roscosmos time to figure out the logistics. “I think that by this time, we will begin to form the Russian orbital station,” he said. This latest delay seems to indicate Russia is a little less certain it can meet that timeline.

Borisov’s confidence hides some important truths. First, Roscosmos was in dire financial straits long before the Western sanctions. Russia will face great difficulty in sourcing and paying for complex electronics. And second — who does Roscosmos expect will pay it for launch services? Russia can’t just go running to China to redeem its behavior on the international stage. In fact, since last year, Roscosmos has been pleading with the Chinese Space Agency to let Russia send cosmonauts to the Chinese Space Station. But Russian spacecraft struggle to reach the Chinese station’s orbital inclination. And if the ISS and CSS are out of the question, where will the cosmonauts go?

“The prospect of cooperating with China is a fiction,” said Dr. Luzin. “The Chinese have looked at Russia as a prospective partner up until 2012 and have stopped since then. Today, Russia cannot offer anything to China in terms of space.”

Meanwhile, NASA administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement that “NASA is committed to the safe operation of the International Space Station through 2030.”

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A Fourth HIV Patient Appears To Have Been Cured

HIV infecting a human cell. (Photo: National Cancer Institute/Unsplash)

Doctors say a patient in California appears to have been cured of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). It’s the fourth time anyone in the world has seemingly been relieved of the virus. 

The patient, a 66-year-old man who otherwise wished to remain unidentified, has been living with HIV since the 1980’s. Prior to receiving the treatment that seems to have cured him, the patient was taking antiretroviral drugs, which have been used for the last few decades to prevent the virus from replicating in the body. While such drugs have the ability to extend an HIV-positive patient’s life, they also come with adverse side effects from gastrointestinal issues to bone loss. These reactions are difficult to manage long-term.

A bone marrow “harvest” in action. (Photo: Chad McNeeley/Wikimedia Commons)

Banishing the virus for good, however, can free someone from having to endure miserable side effects over a long period of time. It’s just a matter of making sure the virus stays gone. This patient received a bone marrow transplant at City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte, California. Thanks to a protein mutation within the donor’s white blood cells, the donor was naturally resistant to HIV. The mutation, known as CCR5-Δ32 (pronounced “CCR5-delta 32”), proved useful to the patient in the days following his transplant. Over time, HIV became undetectable in the patient’s body. That was 17 months ago. The patient has been in remission ever since. 

Despite what looks like a miracle, the patient’s success story comes with more than one catch. The patient only received the blood marrow transplant following a blood cancer leukaemia diagnosis; his donor just happened to carry the CCR5-Δ32 variant. Blood marrow transplants are also painful and complex procedures, making them impractical for frequent use with HIV-positive patients. 

Doctors warn the CCR5-Δ32 variant is also relatively uncommon, especially among those who are not of European descent. Additionally, some worry the variant itself could shorten people’s lifespans. Further research is required to ensure that it’s safe to “give” the variant to others. 

Of course, there’s a chance CCR5-Δ32 ends up being safe to use for wider HIV treatment (or at least worth its disadvantages, given those associated with HIV). In that case, doctors will hopefully be well prepared as scientists seek out ways to use gene therapy in conjunction with CCR5-Δ32. 

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Mars Orbiter Photographs Canyon Five Times Deeper Than Grand Canyon

Mars is a world of extremes. Not only does it have the largest volcano in the solar system (Olympus Mons), but it’s also home to the deepest known canyon, called Valles Marineris. The European Space Agency (ESA) recently captured new images of this grander canyon. The ESA didn’t need a fancy new mission to snap these images either. You can thank the venerable Mars Express orbiter, which has been in service for almost 20 years. 

Mars Express captured the stunning new images on its 23,123th orbit of the red planet. Using its High Resolution Stereo Camera, the probe captured so much detail the images could be confused with aerial shots. The team generated photos of a region toward the western end known as Tithonium Chasma. This is one of two giant rifts that merge together to form the widest section of the canyon. 

The Tithonium Chasma trench by itself is more than 500 miles long. Above, you can see patches of dark sand near the top of the rift. The team believes this may have come from past volcanic activity in the Tharsis region. Below is a second view from “inside” the canyon, depicting two lighter mounds on the floor of the canyon, but they’re more like heavily eroded mountains. The scale is hard to grasp, but these gentle “hills” rise almost two miles (3000 meters) above the canyon floor. Mars Express has detected water-bearing sulfate minerals in the bumpy region between the mounds.

Even if you’re not familiar with Valles Marineris by name, you’ve seen it if you’ve ever looked at an image of Mars. It’s the enormous gash near the equator, making it one of the planet’s most distinguishing features. Valles Marineris is 2,500 miles (400 kilometers) long, making it about the same width as the continental United States. In places, it slices more than four miles (7 kilometers) into the crust of Mars. 

Comparing Valles Marineris to the Grand Canyon on Earth further illustrates how enormous this feature is. Despite having “grand” right in the name, the Martian canyon is five times deeper and ten times longer. Scientists believe Valles Marineris reached this extreme scale because it was not carved by water like the Grand Canyon. Instead, it’s the result of tectonic plate movement, back when Mars was geologically active. 

The aerial-style photos above can make it difficult to comprehend the scale of Valles Marineris, but take a look at the topographical map below. That scale is in kilometers. It also shows the path Mars Express took as it conducted the new observations. 

It’s amazing to see a spacecraft continue to do science after so long. The ESA even worked recently to update the probe’s software, which was no simple feat as the original development was based on Windows 98.

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Meta Increasing Quest 2 Price by $100 on August 1st, Will Include Beat Saber

You’re running out of time to get Meta’s best virtual reality headset for a lower price. Almost two years after its release, Meta (formerly Oculus) has announced the Quest 2 is getting a price hike from $299.99 to $399.99. New customers will get one of the best VR games free with their Quest 2, but that hardly makes up for such a substantial increase at this late stage. 

The Oculus blog (yes, that’s still what it’s called) says that the cost of manufacturing the Meta Quest 2 has increased, but that’s no surprise considering high inflation around the globe. As a result, the company is boosting the price by $100 starting on August 1st. That means the base model headset with 128GB of storage will rise to $400, and the step up with 256GB of storage will go to $500. Meta also notes that pricing for accessories and refurbished units will be increasing. 

In way of compensation, Meta will include a free copy of Beat Saber with every headset. This rhythm-based title is one of the most popular on the Quest, and it also happens to be a great way to demo the features of the Quest 2. Beat Saber only costs $30, and it doesn’t include a ton of songs. You can, of course, buy all the songs you want in the game. The song packs aren’t cheap, either. 

This price hike doesn’t bode well for Facebook’s upcoming high-end Project Cambria headset. This device is expected to be much more compact and comfortable thanks to its use of pancake lenses, and it’ll have full-color video passthrough. Leaks earlier this year pointed to an $800 price tag, but UploadVR confirmed with Meta that the price would be “significantly” higher. More recent reports have suggested the premium headset could cost as much as $1,500. It’s unclear if that’s what we can expect before inflation adjustments, but in either case, Meta’s first real metaverse play is not going to be cheap. 

Unlike the early days of the pandemic, you can actually buy a Quest 2 for retail price direct from Meta. So, you still have time if you want to order a unit at the lower price. It’s disappointing to see Meta increase the price of a device after it’s already been on the market so long, but we can all appreciate the warning.

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Russia is Running Out of Usable Keyboards

(Photo: Eugenia Shustikova/Unsplash) Russia is facing a unique consequence of its war with Ukraine: it’s running out of usable computer keyboards.

Keyboards acquired through Russia’s “parallel imports” strategy are proving impractical for the country, which is now scrambling to provide workers with the hardware they need. Russia adopted the parallel imports scheme following a slew of sanctions from tech companies in the US and other parts of the world. On paper, the strategy was meant to facilitate Russia’s continued import of products made in countries that had issued sanctions, but in a roundabout way. But the plan is clearly backfiring. 

Under the parallel imports scheme, Russia is allowed to purchase sanctioned goods from third-party countries not experiencing sanctions, so long as the third-party country acquired those goods legally. In practice, this means Russia can obtain tech like Apple and Microsoft devices from, say, China, because China isn’t being sanctioned by Apple and Microsoft. However, this strategy has a major caveat: because the devices shipped to third-party countries are made for the people within those countries, they aren’t exactly compatible with the Russian language. 

A typical Russian keyboard layout. (Image: MDragunov/Wikimedia Commons)

It doesn’t take a linguist to see that Russian is not Mandarin is not Serbian (as Serbia is another third-party country willing to trade out sanction-enforcing countries’ devices). If a keyboard is set up for Mandarin speakers, it’s not going to be very useful to those who conduct their work in Russian. This has proven challenging for a country that’s contractually obligated to provide government workers with individual workstations, each with their own Russian keyboard.

The issue is so prevalent that experts believe at least 10 percent of the country’s keyboard stock will consist of non-Russian keyboards by the end of the year. According to the independent Russian news outlet The Moscow Times, the country’s Industry and Trade Ministry has begun engraving Cryllic (the alphabet used in Russian and other Slavic languages) into individual keys. But doing this comes with its own disadvantages: engraving the keys requires taking keyboards out of their packaging, which makes them less attractive to potential customers. Worse, configurations that require keyboard disassembly and reassembly can void the hardware’s warranty. 

Should the Russian government have seen this coming when it implemented its parallel imports strategy? Probably. Is a keyboard shortage going to be the straw that breaks Russia’s back? Almost definitely not. Nevertheless, the tech hardware companies that sanctioned Russia in the first place are likely pleased that their punitive measures are working. 

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Backblaze Reveals Latest Hard Drive Life Expectancy Data

The Backblaze 4U storage pods can save up to 480 TB of user data.

A dead hard drive can be a genuine disaster in the modern age. With capacities exceeding 20TB, that could mean a ton of lost data if you don’t have a good backup solution. Buying reliable hard drives from the start can mitigate the risk, but it’s difficult to know which drives are the most robust. Cloud storage provider Blackblaze keeps meticulous track of hard drive reliability, and it’s back with another round of analysis, calling out the most and least trustworthy drives. 

Backblaze offers both business and personal backup solutions, which it claims is a truly “unlimited” service. With a promise like that, Backblaze goes through a lot of hard drives. The company’s engineers track hundreds of thousands of hard drives, using a technique called a Kaplan-Meier Curve to forecast the failure rate. This statistical model is most often used in biological sciences to predict survival rates, but it can be used equally well for hard drives. 

Backblaze has provided data on 4, 8, 12, and 14TB hard drives. At the smallest tier, Backblaze compared an HGST (HMS5C4040BLE640) drive and a Seagate drive (ST4000DM000), and there’s a stark difference in failure rates. HGST (a division of Western Digital) charges a little more for the hardware, but 97 percent of these drives are still working after six years. It’s only 81 percent for the Seagate model. However, Backblaze notes that when factoring in the higher cost of HGST 4TB drives, it actually makes sense to use Seagate drives in a large-scale operation. If you’re just slapping a single drive in your PC, not so much. 

Stepping up to 8TB, Backblaze tested a pair of Seagate drives, one consumer (ST8000DM002) and the other enterprise (ST8000NM0055). Surprisingly, the consumer drives had a 95 percent six-year survival rate, but the enterprise model was a little lower at 93.6 percent. There might be an argument for the enterprise drive as it has a longer warranty, and the failure rate is only a bit worse. 

At 12TB, Backblaze compared an HGST drive and two Seagate models, and one of the Seagates (ST12000NM0008) exhibited a higher failure rate than the others. That said, all three were generally very reliable. After 24 months, the worse Seagate was still at 98 percent survival, while the other one and the HGST 12TB were over 99 percent. 

The 14TB capacity is the largest Backblaze used, as well as the group with the shortest testing period. Backblaze notes that the early failure rate is now within the range of randomness, so there’s no longer a clear issue with early mortality in large, high-capacity drives. The Toshiba, Seagate, and Western Digital 14TB drives all maintained at least 99 percent survival after a year. The Seagate (ST14000NM001G) does appear to be trending lower, but the Toshiba drives began failing at a higher rate around two years. The difference is only one percent lower than projected after three years, though. 

If you’re looking at smaller hard drives, Backblaze’s data suggests you should avoid Seagate. While Seagate does have higher failure rates across the board, the differences with 8TB and higher drives is on the order of just one or two percentage points. As long as you maintain good backups, price should be your primary concern.

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NFT Group Blocked from Minecraft Vows to Make Its Own Version of the Game

Minecraft Super Duper Graphics Pack. Image by Microsoft.

Minecraft developer Mojang announced earlier this week that it was banning blockchain and NFT technology from the popular block-based game. The general response from the community has been positive, but the purveyors of NFTs are feeling the sting. NFT Worlds, which has made a business of selling crypto-infused Minecraft content, is in search of a new path forward and may have to pivot by creating its own NFT-based version of the game. 

The freedom to build your own world in Minecraft has been appealing to NFT groups, offering plenty of opportunities to create blockchain products. NFT Worlds has generated over $75 million in transaction volume selling what it calls “world seeds.” Like other NFTs, these products are unique, and they can be bought and sold with blockchain backing. The owner of the NFT can use the seed to create a world using the Minecraft client. 

In announcing the blockchain restrictions, Mojang said NFTs “create models of scarcity and exclusion that conflict with our Guidelines and the spirit of Minecraft.” Before Mojang’s announcement, NFT Worlds were selling for 3 Ethereum, or roughly $4,500. After Mojang decided to ban blockchain tech from the game, the value of the NFTs dropped to 1.4 Ethereum ($2,100), reports Vice. The NFT Worlds crypto token also plummeted in value by about 70 percent. 

We've just shared the following announcement on our Discord regarding the current @Minecraft & @nftworldsNFT situation. pic.twitter.com/ARbKABRK4A

— NFT Worlds (@nftworldsNFT) July 20, 2022

NFT Worlds says it is currently attempting to contact Microsoft (which owns Mojang) to seek clarification on the change and seek an “alternative outcome.” That seems unlikely, but NFT Worlds says it has an alternative: it’ll just build its own NFT game. It wouldn’t be the first, but most of these titles are still barebones and not very popular. I question whether it’s even possible to build a game around overpriced digital assets that is actually fun to play. 

Mojang has not said it will forever ignore blockchain technology but the current exclusionary model of NFTs will not be permitted. That’s not to say that NFT Worlds and other groups are out of options. They could continue to sell NFTs with Minecraft seeds — there’s nothing stopping people from manually inserting seeds into the game client. However, NFT Worlds won’t be able to use the Minecraft API to send and receive crypto payments for the NFTs inside the game. That’s the sort of feature a game built from the ground up for NFTs would have, but good luck finding one that’s as enjoyable as Minecraft.

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Uber Avoids Criminal Charges by Admitting to Data Breach Cover-Up

(Photo: Charles Deluvio/Unsplash) In a last-ditch effort to avoid criminal prosecution, Uber has admitted to concealing a massive data breach from six years ago.

The breach occurred in October 2016 when a group of hackers used stolen credentials to obtain an internal access key, which they then used to gain hold of approximately 57 million user records. These records included users’ names, email addresses, and phone numbers, as well as about 600,000 driver’s license numbers. Though the hackers didn’t obtain any Social Security numbers, credit card details, or trip details, how Uber responded to the breach is what brings them to their situation today.

Uber reportedly paid the hackers a $100,000 ransom not only to delete the data they’ve obtained, but also to keep the breach hidden from regulators and the media. Dara Khosrowshahi had just replaced the infamous Travis Kalanick as CEO and was navigating the company through a series of federal investigations, most of which focused on separate alleged privacy violations. Under the terms of the investigations, Uber was required to inform regulators of any “unauthorized access to personal information.” It didn’t comply.

Uber successfully hid the breach from regulators for over a year before Khosrowshahi publicly acknowledged the breach. In November 2017, the freshly-appointed CEO wrote a statement detailing the company’s “failure to notify affected individuals or regulators” and promising to notify affected users. The statement coincided with a “damning” Bloomberg report about the breach and its subsequent cover-up.

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. (Photo: Ecole Polytechnique/Wikimedia Commons)

The news of the cover-up sparked a new investigation involving the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), state attorneys general, and foreign and domestic regulators. Up until last week, it remained possible that Uber could be held criminally liable for concealing the breach and violating its agreement to disclose security issues to regulators already investigating the company. But the company has avoided criminal charges via a non-prosecution agreement, which it entered into last Friday.

The agreement acknowledges that since Khosrowshahi’s appointment, Uber has “invested substantial resources to significantly restructure and enhance the company’s compliance, legal, and security functions.” It also publicizes a 20-year agreement between Uber and the FTC, in which the rideshare company promised to uphold a comprehensive privacy program and disclose any future consumer data breaches to the agency. According to the agreement, Uber settled any civil liability concerns through a $148 million settlement with the attorneys general for all 50 States, as well as an agreement to implement various internal security and review measures.

Violating any of these terms across the next two decades will put Uber back at square one, where it might face criminal prosecution all over again. But the company has surely learned its lesson…right?

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Rumor: Nvidia Preparing 800W Titan-Class ‘Beast’ GPU

Here we go again. Just when rumors about Nvidia’s next-gen GPUs’ power consumption had returned to sanity, now they’re going in the opposite direction. This time, it’s rumored Nvidia has a moonshot GPU waiting in the wings. Its job is simple: make sure AMD doesn’t take the top-speed crown this generation. This will be a “no holds barred” GPU with a ludicrous 800W total board power (TBP) and 48GB of GDDR6X memory. No, that is not a typo.

The latest rumor comes from notorious leaker kopite7kimi on Twitter. According to their sources, Nvidia will be returning to its old launch model with Ada Lovelace. That means it will offer a true “flagship” GPU with Titan branding. In other words, a halo product with outrageous specs and pricing. Titan GPUs always sport a lot more VRAM than their GeForce counterparts since they’re made for creators/computation, not gamers. This card will be no different, offering a wallet-busting 48GB of 24Gb/s GDDR6X memory. That’s twice the amount in the current RTX 3090/Ti, and 3X what AMD is offering in its RTX 6950 XT.

It’s also a return to form for Nvidia, as the line between Titan and GeForce has become blurred with Ampere. Instead of a Titan card it launched the RTX 3090 instead. It had Titan-level VRAM with more than twice the amount of the RTX 3080, but was still a GeForce card. The last Titan card Nvidia offered was for its Turing architecture, since the 3090 fills that role for Ampere.

Copious VRAM will also contribute to the card’s outrageous 800W of power consumption. Previously, Nvidia GPUs peaked at 450W for the RTX 3090 Ti. Some of the add-in board (AIB) partner cards pushed that a bit further though. However, Nvidia seems prepared to push that power envelope door wide open this time around, all other concerns be damned.

It remains unclear how it expects to manage all that heat. However, given the numbers involved a hybrid cooler seems likely. Nvidia has never taken this step though, as it has never needed to before. AMD has added 120mm AIO coolers to some of its GPUs in the past, but that’s probably not sufficient for 800W. Its current RTX 3090 Ti card is being sold with a 360mm AIO from EVGA, and that’s only a 450W GPU.

Finally, this “beast” GPU will reportedly sport 18,176 CUDA cores. That’s a hefty 69 percent more cores than the RTX 3090 Ti. Though that’s a sizable increase in GPU cores, it’s not unprecedented. Nvidia more than doubled the CUDA core count going from the RTX 2080 Ti to the 3080 Ti. Now it appears it’ll be doing it once again for Ada Lovelace.

What’s notable about this latest rumor is it lines up with previous rumors. Previously, it was thought there would be three TDPs for the RTX 4090: 450W, 650W, and 850W. So if the 850W model is present, what about the 450W and 650W? That is what is now being reported as the launch schedule for the RTX 4090.

It will allegedly be offered in a 450W Founder’s Edition, with partners allowed to crank it up to 600W. Also, according to Wccftech, the RTX 4090 will be priced lower than the RTX 3090 Ti, which costs $1,999. It might also be the only 40-series GPU Nvidia launches in 2022. Nvidia needs to clear its existing 30-series inventory from the channel before it launches equivalent GPUs. It will still launch its flagship, but it might postpone the rest of the stack until there’s room in the channel for it.

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Some Pixel 6a Phones Can Be Unlocked with Unregistered Fingerprints

Google’s new Pixel 6a smartphone has only just started shipping to those who pre-ordered, but some reviewers have noted a potentially serious bug. According to multiple reports, the latest Google phone can be unlocked with a fingerprint — any fingerprint, even if it’s not the one you registered or one that belongs to someone else entirely. 

The Pixel 6a has an in-display fingerprint sensor, which is still a relatively new technology for Google. It first offered this feature on the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro, which launched in late 2021. There were no reports of this multi-fingerprint bug with those phones, but they were sluggish to unlock. The Pixel 6a, which uses a Goodix optical fingerprint sensor very similar to the Pixel 6, is much faster. Perhaps that’s part of the problem. 

Optical fingerprint sensors are essentially high-contrast cameras that sit under the screen. Your device’s OLED panel lights up above the sensor to illuminate your fingerprint. The way it’s supposed to work, as you might expect, is that tapping the sensor with a registered finger unlocks the phone, but an unregistered print should be rejected. Several YouTubers and reviewers have now reported that their Pixels will unlock with unregistered fingerprints. One even showed it working with a fingerprint from someone else’s hand. This is a major security issue, but not a unique one. 

Several years back, Samsung began using ultrasonic in-display fingerprint sensors. The Galaxy S10 mistakenly interpreted the patterns in some screen protectors as elements of the user’s fingerprint. Over time, the algorithm would get confused and allow anyone to unlock the phone because it could still see the screen protector patterns no matter who tapped. It’s hard to get this stuff right, and it appears Google still has some work to do. 

That said, I’ve been testing a Pixel 6a for several weeks, and I have been unable to reproduce the error. The phone only unlocks with my registered fingerprints, and yes, it’s a bit faster than the Pixel 6 in that regard. I have no doubt Google will investigate the issue, and there will be an update that addresses the lax security. Whether or not that makes the Pixel 6a’s sensor as lethargic as the Pixel 6, only time will tell.

The Pixel 6a is still available for pre-order at the Google Store, where it can be yours in black, white, or green for $449. It’s unlocked for use on any carrier.

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Motherboards are Getting Updates for Unannounced Raptor Lake CPUs

At this point in mid-summer, Intel still hasn’t officially said anything about Raptor Lake’s launch date. We don’t know when it’s coming or what pricing will be. All we know is that it will arrive this year, most likely in the fall. Despite this situation, motherboard manufacturers have already begun making their motherboards compatible with Intel’s 13th generation CPUs. Raptor Lake is an upgraded version of Alder Lake, so both platforms use the LGA 1700 socket.

You might not have noticed, but in the past month all the big motherboard manufactures issued BIOS updates adding Raptor Lake support. This includes MSI, Asus, Gigabyte, and ASRock, according to Ars Technica. These updates apply to all Intel-based chipsets, including Z690, B660, H610, and H670. However, since Raptor Lake isn’t released yet, these BIOS updates won’t let you use the CPU like you would normally if you somehow got your hands on one. Asus’ update has this footnote, “Note that the initial BIOS version is for power-up purposes only and is not suitable for performance testing. A full-function version will be made available when the new CPUs are launched.”

This is certainly good news for those who are looking to upgrade to Raptor Lake from an older platform. When Intel’s 12th generation chipset debuted, people were shocked by some of the prices, especially for Z690 motherboards. That was at the end of 2021, when we had a chip shortage. We also had a DDR5 memory shortage, so most people who made the leap likely bought DDR4 to save a few bucks. At the time, the cost of a Z690 board with DDR5 memory was ludicrous.

When Raptor Lake launches though, it’s quite possible those same Z690 boards will be a bit more affordable. As long as they support Raptor Lake, which all 12th generation boards will at some point, it could be a winning package. That’s provided you don’t mind missing out on whatever Z790 brings to the table. Intel has yet to discuss those features, but there was a recent leak showing what the platform would look like (image above).

The launch of Raptor Lake will complete LGA 1700’s lifecycle, as it was promised to support two generations of CPUs. That is a far cry from what AMD delivered with its AM4 platform, obviously. AMD launched AM4 in 2016, and it’s still supported even today for AMD’s latest processors. We will have to see if that continues with AM5, and the same goes for whatever socket follows Intel’s LGA 1700. This is long been a pain point for Intel users, and AMD has been wise to offer a better alternative.

Raptor Lake is rumored to be launching on October 7th, according to Videocardz. Like with Alder Lake, it’ll unveil its high-end CPUs first, with non-K (unlocked) SKUs debuting at CES in January. Launch models will allegedly be the Core i9-13900K/KF, 13700K/KF, and the i5 13600K/KF. One of the big changes with Raptor Lake is upgraded memory specs. DDR5 will go from JEDEC 4800 to JEDEC 5600. However, like Alder Lake it will support both DDR4 and DDR5 memories.

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Man Who Lost Crypto Fortune in Landfill Wants to Use Robots to Find It

Imagine realizing that you accidentally threw away a winning lottery ticket. You’d probably be digging through the trash, and if the jackpot was high enough, you might even toy with paying a visit to your local landfill. This has been a reality for a UK man named James Howells for the past decade, only instead of a lottery ticket, he’s looking for a hard drive containing the keys to millions of dollars worth of bitcoin. His latest plan to find his buried treasure involves robot dogs, because of course it does. 

Today, mining bitcoin is a complex, energy-intensive process because the proof-of-work calculations get more difficult over time. But a decade ago, Howells was able to mine about 8,000 bitcoins on a modest home computer before the crypto boom. Even after the recent collapse in cryptocurrency prices, Howells’ lost fortune is worth about $166 million. All he needs to claim the money is the passcode saved on the hard drive he mistakenly tossed in 2013. 

Howells — a former IT worker and current crypto trader — has been working on schemes to find his fortune ever since he realized his mistake.  The problem, the local landfill in Newport, Wales has since been sealed and covered with earth. According to an interview Business Insider conducted with Howells, he has devised a plan costing $11 million to excavate the landfill. He’s reportedly gotten funding from venture capitalists Hanspeter Jaberg and Karl Wendeborn, but he needs some robots to get the job done. 

The plan calls for several Boston Dynamics Spot robots, which would march around the landfill in search of the hard drive. Trash excavated from the landfill would be sorted at a nearby pop-up facility with the help of human workers and AI systems. Even if Howells could find the hard drive in a mountain of garbage, there’s no guarantee it would still work. If the data is unsalvageable, his bitcoins are still lost. And lets not forget this hard drive has been sitting in a dank pit for the last decade. Garbage water isn’t good for hard drives (or anything, for that matter). 

The elements aren’t the only thing standing between Howells and his fortune. The local city council has always been skeptical of Howells and his schemes. They weren’t interested in his offer to share 25 percent of the recovered crypto, noting that digging up the landfill could incur millions in costs to the local government, and there are real ecological concerns when opening a landfill near residential areas. Howells apparently hopes his new plan will get the council to change its mind, but that seems unlikely after all these years. Howells has not, however, ruled out filing a lawsuit to secure the rights to root around in a big pile of garbage. There are probably easier ways to make $166 million.

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Google is Rolling Out Improved Android Tablet Apps

The first Google-blessed Android tablet launched in 2011, and now more than a decade later, Google has rediscovered tablet apps. After neglecting large-screen devices for most of the intervening years, the company has announced new, tablet-friendly features in some of its most popular apps. 

Google itself is largely responsible for the dearth of Android tablets. When it gave up on tablets in the wake of the disastrous Pixel C, it also stopped optimizing apps for the large screen, making an already bad problem that much worse. Whereas Apple has worked to standardize large-screen interfaces and provide developers with the tools to develop on the iPad, Google focused Android almost entirely on phones. 

Now that Amazon and Samsung have carved up what’s left of the tablet market, Google is back at it. Part of that is the move toward foldable form factors, which can blur the line between a phone and a tablet, and the division is only going to become blurrier with time. To that end, Google is adding tablet enhancements to several of its flagship Workspace apps: Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Keep. 

Multitasking is one of the key use cases for tablets and large foldables, and that is exemplified in the new drag-and-drop functionality. All the updated apps now support this feature in split-screen mode. So, you could grab an image or file from Chrome, and drag it into Google Drive to upload it. Likewise, you can select a table from Sheets and drag it into a Docs window. 

 

The Drive app, which acts as a hub for Sheets, Docs, and Slides, is also getting a specific multitasking enhancement. Now, you’ll be able to open two instances of Drive side-by-side. This will help immensely if you need to dig around in your files, opening documents to find something in particular. It also jives nicely with the new drag-and-drop functionality. 

The new Workspace functionality should be live in the coming weeks. This move comes just a few months after the most recent Google I/O, during which Google announced it would release a raft of app updates with tablet-optimized interfaces, and it’s working with third-party developers like Zoom and TikTok. Google also plans to release a new tablet. The predictably-named Pixel Tablet will launch next year, but that’s essentially all we know about it.

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Chess-Playing Robot Breaks 7-Year-Old Opponent’s Finger

(Photo: Randy Fath/Unsplash) A relatively normal—well, as normal as human-vs-robot chess can be—chess game went awry last week when a 7-year-old boy’s robotic opponent broke the boy’s finger.

The 7-year-old, identified as Christopher by the Russian news outlet Baza, is said to be one of Moscow’s best chess players under nine years of age. His opponent on July 19 was Chessbot, an artificial intelligence-equipped robot trained to simultaneously play up to three games of chess. Christopher was challenging Chessbot alongside two other human players when the machine grabbed hold of the boy’s finger and wouldn’t let go. By the time Christopher got free, his finger was broken.

Sergey Lazarev, president of the Moscow Chess Federation, told state-owned TASS that the robot had played several games of chess without incident before. And then he stated the obvious: “The robot broke the child’s finger. This is, of course, bad.”

Bone-breaking robots are bad, especially when the public doesn’t know why said bone-breaking occurs. Footage of the incident depicts Chessbot plucking a piece from the board and adding it to a bin of discarded pieces. Christopher quickly goes to make his next move, and the chaos begins. Chessbot grabs onto Christopher’s finger smoothly and unceremoniously. Though there’s no audio and Christopher’s head blocks some of the action, it’s clear the boy is attempting to remove his hand from the robot’s grip.

A few adults eventually jump up to Christopher’s rescue, and after a few too many moments of struggling, they free the boy from his robot opponent’s grasp. But it’s unknown whether Chessbot thought it was picking up a chess piece or was startled by Christopher’s eager move (which, it should be said, wasn’t particularly sudden or erratic). Was Chessbot performing the way it was meant to, but without the right safeguards in place? Or did it lash out on its own, having been thrown off by its human opponent’s body language?

The Russian Chess Federation insists it’s the latter. The organization’s vice president told Baza that Christopher had violated the “safety rules” by failing to allow Chessbot to complete its move. Safety guidelines are typically a good idea when it comes to operating or interacting with machinery, but if the Russian Chess Federation is correct, this incident has exposed a major gap in Chessbot’s engineering. Robots designed to work in close proximity to human hands ideally have security measures in place to prevent bone-snapping and other shudder-inducing injuries. One would especially think so when the robot might be used alongside children.

Christopher’s parents reportedly filed a report with the public prosecutor’s office following the incident. Not all is lost, though: Christopher had his finger in a cast and was able to play in a chess tournament just one day after his harrowing experience, with volunteers helping to make each move.

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