Wednesday, January 19, 2022

YouTube Testing Smart Downloads Feature For Its Android App In Europe

YouTube is testing a new Smart Downloads feature on its mobile app on Android in Europe, 9to5Google reports. It functions similarly to its counterpart which is already available on the audio-only YouTube Music app, where it is used to automatically download new content on mobile devices, as long as it is connected to Wi-Fi.

Smart Downloads is intended to help users to save up on mobile data, and will download 20 videos every week based on the user’s watching preferences. These videos can be viewed offline by navigating to the Downloads page under the app’s Library tab. 9to5Google says that YouTube will notify users if their devices are low on storage, and will advise them on what steps to take in order to free up space.

And much like the same function that is available on YouTube Music, the new Smart Downloads tool is only exclusively available to Premium subscribers. Moreover, the Google-owned streaming platform notes that the new feature is rolled out in a limited run, which is – as mentioned earlier – only accessible by Android users in Europe at this time. It is not known whether the Smart Downloads test will be expanded to other regions in the near future – let alone see an iOS version.

But should that be the case, Premium users are usually notified of its availability on their Home feed. To try out new experimental features on YouTube (when they are made available), simply navigate to youtube.com/new, or opt-in via the Try New Features option under Settings in the mobile app.

Sega NFT Trademarks Appear In Japan Patent Office

Last week, we saw news of Sega CEO Haruki Satomi contemplating not taking the dive into the NFT pool. In a December management meeting the company head said the company will not proceed if it was seen as simple money-making. But it seems that the company filed for trademarks of its own NFTs in the same month.

The company has filed for its own NFT trademarks with the Japan Patent Office in late December 2021. The filing was published this week, with one reading simply Sega NFT, and another which reads Sega Classics NFT Collection.

The first of the two seems pretty plain and generic, for lack of a better description. Though the latter indicates that Sega has plans for something that’s along the lines of what Konami did with Castlevania and its 35th anniversary.

This revelation is by no means shocking. But it suggest that Sega will still push ahead with its NFT plans, and only backtrack when that faces backlash. Which is baffling considering the already significant backlash that other companies have gotten. Or maybe it is tempted by the fact that Square Enix had its share price go up desptie gamer backlash.

NVIDIA Requests Temporary Suspension Of GeForce RTX 3090 Ti Production

NVIDIA seems to have made a sudden request to all of its board partners, asking them to halt the production of its soon-to-be announced GeForce RTX 3090 Ti graphics card. Effectively, this also means that NVIDIA’s original plan of launching the card later this month is clearly not happening.

The news was initially reported by TweakTown, whom got the news from their source. However, when asked why the GPU maker requested to “pause production” of its AiB partner’s custom-cooled RTX 3090 Ti, the source wasn’t clear. However, thanks to Videocardz, we now know that NVIDIA’s 11th hour request seems to stem from issues with the card’s BIOS and hardware but nothing else beyond that point.

The RTX 3090 Ti was first announced during CES 2022 earlier in the month, albeit briefly. At the time, the company confirmed what earlier rumours had speculated about the card: it would still retain the same 24GB GDDR6X memory, but clocked at a faster 21Gbps and required a much higher 450W TDP, conducted through a new 16-pin Microfit PCIe MOLEX connector.

In any case, we’re just going to have to wait on Team Green for further updates on the RTX 3090 Ti.

SK Hynix To Discuss 896GB/s HBM3, 27Gbps GDDR6 Memory During ISSCC 2022

Facemasks being a trend may not be intentional, but researchers are taking the extra step to make them do more. The folks at Northwestern Universtity have developed what’s called a FaceBit. Described as the “Fitbit for the face”, the researchers say it can turn any face mask into a smart monitoring device.

The FaceBit chip attaches itself to a mask using a tiny magnet, and it works with just about any mask, from the N95 to the more basic surgical and cloth masks. It has some of the features that you’d expect to see on a smartband hence the brand namedrop. To start, it measures heart rate using subtle head movements from blood being pumped through its vessels.

It also detects poor fitting masks by detecting a dip in mask resistance. Though the researchers point out that the FaceBit is yet to replace the usual fit test of an N95 mask. All the data collected is then used to monitor a person’s stress levels. The chip can then ask its user to take a break, for example.


The FaceBit prototype runs on a battery that recharges itself using breathing force, heat, motion and solar energy. This allows it to stretch its battery life up to 11 days. But the researchers are still working on making it completely battery free.

For now, the FaceBit chip still has to go through a long list of tests before it is ready for real-world use. But the researchers have released the project code and hardware to the public so that others can help build and verify it.

SK Hynix To Discuss 896GB/s HBM3, 27Gbps GDDR6 Memory During ISSCC 2022

SK Hynix, the South Korean memory manufacturer, is now expected to reveal, as well as speak at length about its latest and faster HBM3 memory standard. The new memory is reportedly capable of achieving speeds of up to 896GB/s, up from the initial 820GB/s that was first touted when it launched its 12-Hi HBM3 last year.

Details about the new memory is still scarce but what is confirmed is that the presentation and Q&A sessions are set to be held during the International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) that is scheduled to take place from 20 February until 24 February next month. Like its predecessor, the new HBM3 memory is expected to be a 12-layer DRM, with a capacity of 196Gb or 24GB. How this is achieved is through a process called Through Silicon Via (TSV) auto-calibration and machine-learning optimisations.


In addition to the new ultra-fast HBM3 memory, SK Hynix also plans on speaking about its new T-Coil 27Gbps GDDR6 memory. Naturally, that would make it faster than Samsung’s own GDDR6 memory, which currently runs at 24Gbps and is currently being sampled.

MY2022 Beijing Winter Olympics App Reportedly Riddled With Security Flaws

Canadian cybersecurity group Citizen Lab has released a report which listed down several security vulnerabilities in the MY2022 app which has been designed for extensive use at the upcoming 2022 Winter Olympics in Bejing next month.

For context, all participants, journalists, and attendees of the event are required to download the app 14 days prior to their departure to China. Aside from health monitoring, the app also includes features such as messaging, file transfers, Olympic news, and city guide services for Beijing.


According to Citizen Lab, the app fails to validate SSL certificates which means it is not able to properly verify to whom it is sending data. This would allow hackers to spoof trusted servers and display fake instructions to users, as well as access sensitive information in health customs forms.

Not only that, but the Toronto-based researchers also found that MY2022 fails to encrypt sensitive metadata, which includes the names of message senders, receivers, and their user account identifiers. This means that it is possible for a lot of parties including ISPs or even someone that is connected to an unsecured wifi access point, to access the data.

The most worrying part is the group found that the app allows users to report politically-sensitive content and uncovered a censorship keyword list in the Android version in a file named “illegalwords.txt”. The list contains 2,442 keywords, with the majority of them being politically motivated or involving vulgar words, though it appears that the list is inactive.

In response to the report, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said that the MY2022 app has been independently assessed and was found to have no critical vulnerabilities. The Beijing Organising Committee for the games did not respond to the findings, but they released an update to the iOS version which did not fix any of the issues. Instead, a new feature called “Green Health Code” was added to collect travel document information and medical history information and was found to be similarly vulnerable.

Nevertheless, several countries have warned athletes not to bring their personal devices to China over fears of cybersecurity threats. For example, the U.S Olympic & Paralympic Committee have recommended the usage of burner phones as well as rental or disposable computers. On another hand, the Dutch Olympic Committee reportedly will be providing phones and laptops to athletes and staff which will be subsequently disposed once they come back from Beijing.

Monday, January 17, 2022

ASUS GeForce RTX 3080 12GB Graphics Cards Now Available; Retails From RM7000

ASUS expanded its graphics cards lineup with the addition of its own custom-cooled NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 3080 12GB graphics cards. Featuring 2GB GDDR6X more than the original RTX 3080 that launched last year, ASUS is releasing the card under two of its sub-brandings: the ROG Strix series and TUF Gaming Series.

Starting with the TUF Gaming series, ASUS will be releasing two versions of the card, an OC edition and standard, non-OC edition. In terms of clockspeeds, the non-OC edition will have a gaming mode and OC mode boost clock of 1710MHz and 1740MHz, respectively. While the boost clocks of the TUF Gaming OC edition of the RTX 3080 is set at 1785MHz for its gaming mode and 1815MHz for its OC Mode. For cooling, the card sports a 0dB triple-fan cooling solution, powered by Axial-tech fans nestled on top of a 2.7-slot thick heatsink.






As for the ROG Strix version of the RTX 3080 12GB, it seems that ASUS is only bringing in the OC edition of the card. In terms of speed, the card will be running on a gaming mode boost clock of 1860MHz and an OC mode boost clock of 1890MHz. Like the TUF Gaming series, the cooling solution of the ROG Strix series RTX 3080 12GB comprises a triple 0dB, Axial-tech fan solutions, but with a slightly thicker 2.9-slot heatsink sandwiched between the fans and PCB. Further, its cooler shroud is cloaked with an aRGB LED across the length of the card.



 






Be it the TUF Gaming or ROG series, all variants of ASUS’ RTX 3080 12GB cards sport the same 12GB GDDR6X graphics memory, 8960 CUDA cores, PCIe 4.0 support, dual HDMI 2.1 port, and three DisplayPort 1.4a ports. Pricing for the cards starts at RM7000 for the standard edition TUF Gaming RTX 3080 12GB, RM7050 for the OC edition, and RM7470 for the ROG Strix OC Edition.

Sunday, January 16, 2022

AMD RAMP Technology For DDR5 Could Give Intel XMP 3.0 Run For Its Money

Intel may have taken the lead on the DDR5 memory frontier with the launch of its 12th generation Alder Lake CPUs, but that may change once AMD’s Socket AM5, 600 series motherboards, and Ryzen 7000 series CPUs launch later this year. This includes the launch of its Ryzen Accelerated Memory Profile, or RAMP for short.

RAMP is expected to succeed AMD’s A-XMP that currently serves as the default memory-overclocking software for all DDR4-based chipsets right now. RAMP was first listed on HWInfo’s v7.17 beta release notes, in which it says the technology had been added as preliminary support to the software. More to the point, it is highly likely that the software was created by AMD as a response and direct rival to Intel’s 3rd generation Extreme Memory Profile (XMP 3.0) memory overclocking profile when, once again, its Ryzen 7000 “Raphael” CPU series makes it to market.

While brief in its presentation and announcement, AMD’s Socket AM5 is set to be a new milestone for the chipmaker, in more ways than one. Its arrival will mark the second time the tech brand will drop the Pin Grid Array (PGA) CPU layout in favour of the Land Grid Array (LGA) format, the first time it adopted the format having started with its Ryzen Threadripper HEDT CPU lineup. Specifically, the new Socket AM5 will also be based on a new LGA1718 design, as well as be the first AMD chipset to support the DDR5 memory standard PCIe Gen5 standard.

At the time of writing, there is no further information about RAMP but if AMD were to maintain the status quo, the new memory technology could mean that currently existing XMP DDR5 memory will also be compatible with it. At the same time, AMD might just allow manufacturers to make RAM modules that cater to their technology, exclusively. Having said that, do remember that this is all just speculation and as such, do take this news with a grain of salt. 

Friday, January 14, 2022

Jack Dorsey’s Block Is Developing An Open-Source Bitcoin Mining System

Block, previously known as Square, has confirmed plans to build an open-source Bitcoin mining system to making cryptocurrency mining more accessible. CEO Jack Dorsey previously laid out his vision for this system back in October, and now it seems that his company is working towards making it a reality.

Block’s general manager for hardware, Thomas Templeton, explained the company’s plans, saying that its goal is to “make mining more distributed and efficient in every way, from buying, to set up, to maintenance, to mining.” Previously, Dorsey claimed that the system would be based on custom silicon and open-source for individuals, as well as businesses.

Templeton went on to say that the system will tackle the issue of availability, saying that not everyone can afford a mining rig and that delivery is unpredictable. Block also plans on making its system able to last longer than mining rigs, be more power efficient, and not become a noise pollutant.


Dorsey, who recently left his role at Twitter, is a vocal proponent of blockchain technology, hence Square’s name change to Block. The company lets users buy and sell Bitcoin through its subsidiary, Cash App, and is also working on a physical Bitcoin wallet. With cryptocurrency being on a decline as of late, only time will tell if Dorsey’s big bet will pay off.

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