It appears that Intel’s ARC Alchemist graphics card will be named in a rather surgical manner, with each card bearing an “Arc aXXX” label. Alleged details of Intel’s naming guidelines for its upcoming GPUs were first leaked by the leakster, 188号 (@momomo_us), who somehow managed to get their hands on the details.
According to the guideline, the “a” in the “aXXX” moniker refers to the Alchemist GPU. This actually clears up two details for us: Firstly, we now know that Intel isn’t going the way of NVIDIA or AMD, with the two GPU makers slapping the RTX and RX moniker to their respective GeForce and Radeon GPUs. Instead, Intel just wants to keep it simple.
The second detail is Intel’s categorisation of its GPUs, now and in the future. We know that the next three generations of ARC GPUs are known as Battlemage, Celestial, and Druid. Therefore, we can at least deduce that, assuming this naming guideline holds, the next round of graphics cards will be launched with the “bXXX”, “cXXX”, and “dXXX” label.
It’s also clear that Intel is being pretty strict with itself and even goes so far as to even list down an incorrect use of its product’s names.
Intel’s ARC Alchemist graphics cards are expected to debut sometime during the first quarter of 2022, but reports have been unable to pinpoint an exact launch date. Another rumour suggests that Intel will be launching not one, but three different SKUs when the time comes, but do take that bit of news with a large grain of salt.
Apple mobile devices back in the day never had a lot of RAM. And it never needed them, considering that the mobile OS are so optimised. But as newer devices come with more, a strange limitation of iOS and iPadOS have since surfaced. The restriction here is that apps could never make use of more than 5GB of RAM. And Apple is working on removing this limitation.
In the second version of the iOS and iPadOS 15 beta versions, developers were allowed access to the extra RAM via an entitlement code. This will allow the app to tell the operating system that it can work better with the extra resource.
Granted, the caveat here is that the app must still be able to work properly without it. After all, having that much RAM is still a luxury exclusive to newer devices. Beyond the iPhone 12 Pro and Pro Max, no other iPhone will be able to make use of this, for example.
All that being said, most apps wouldn’t need to make use of that much resource. Overall, this will be a benefit that is mostly only seen by owners of the newer models of the iPad Pro. Access to more RAM will certainly allow their performance to match laptops, as the company frequently touts.
YouTube has announced that the beta version of YouTube Shorts, its new short-form video competitor to TikTok, is now available in more than 100 countries, including Malaysia. While the short-form videos were already available for us to watch, Malaysian YouTubers are now able to use the creation tools to create and post shorts.
Shorts’ creation tools include stringing multiple video clips together, the ability to record with music, and control speed settings. In conjunction with the expansion, YouTube is also adding new features to Shorts. You can now add text to specific points in your video, automatically add captions, record up to 60 seconds of content with the Shorts camera (up from 15 seconds), use filters, and best of all, you can sample audio from any video on YouTube.
According to YouTube, Shorts has surpassed 6.5 billion daily views globally. To support creators, the Google subsidiary is launching the YouTube Shorts Fund worth US$100 million (~RM418.9 million). YouTube will be giving out the funds every month to the most engaging Shorts creators as a reward. Unlike AdSense, creators do not need to be a YouTube partner to be eligible for the Shorts fund.
The short-video format was first launched as a limited release in India in September 2020. It was then expanded to 26 countries, including the US, before today’s global release (which includes our neighbour Singapore).
The beta has already started rolling out and will be available to everybody over the next couple of weeks, so don’t worry if you don’t see the option on your app just yet. If you want to try out the feature, you can start recording straight from the YouTube app by tapping on the create button. If you need more instructions, you can check out YouTube’s Shorts guide here.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted that the company will return to accepting bitcoin as payment when the cryptocurrency’s miners use more clean, environmentally friendly energy. The crypto-enthusiast and environmentalist has seen his core passions collide with one another.
“When there’s confirmation of reasonable (~50%) clean energy usage by miners with positive future trend, Tesla will resume allowing Bitcoin transactions,” he said on Twitter. According to Reuters, bitcoin rallied over 9% after the post.
CNBC said the billionaire was responding to pointed remarks from Magda Wierzycka, the CEO of South African asset manager Sygnia, who accused him of manipulating the price of bitcoin. Previously, Tesla bought US$1.5 billion (~RM6.2 billion) worth of bitcoin and later said it would accept the digital currency as payment for cars.
That policy was abruptly reversed last month with Musk declaring that the push for cryptocurrency “cannot come at great cost to the environment.” To be fair to the billionaire, even then, he maintained that Tesla will accept bitcoin transactions again when miners transition to “more sustainable energy.”
Of course, that statement as well as his latest one raise more questions than answers. Given the tremendous power demands of bitcoin mining, is that transition to cleaner energy even possible? Wouldn’t that require national-level, government-driven efforts to move away from ‘dirty’ energy sources like coal? Why seemingly put the onus on miners and how long would that transition take?
Finally, the billionaire-dollar question: Can enthusiasm for bitcoin be sustained until then?
Earlier in the month, WhatsApp detailed its plans on pestering users to accept its new privacy policy. The plan included blocking of functionality should the pestering fail to convince users to do so. Though it looks like the Facebook subsidiary is walking back on its arm twisting methods.
Said plans were previously laid out on a WhatsApp support page. The very same page now says that none of that will be happening. The company will still occasionally remind users that the new privacy policy exists, but they won’t be persistent.
In a statement to TNW, WhatsApp says that it has been discussing with “various authorities and privacy experts” regarding its strongarm tactics. No doubt India’s legal threat against the messaging platform may have something to do with this U-turn. After all, we’re talking about the platform’s largest market. Though only the company and its owner Facebook will know if this is something that will stick, or only a temporary measure to take some heat off of itself.
This ultimately may be a desperate move to retain users. But all that being said, it may be a case of too little, too late. Shortly after the company made the initial privacy policy announcement, a lot of its users began migrating to alternatives like Telegram and Signal.
Signal, the privacy-focused messaging app, said it tried to run Instagram ads to highlight how much information Facebook collects about users. Facebook, in turn, accused Signal of pulling a disingenuous “stunt”.
Signal said it tried to run a “multi-variant targeted ad” on Instagram, using Facebook’s own advertising tools to show people how they’re being targeted by ads. Facebook has been frequently bashed for collecting and using reams of personal user data for advertising purposes.
According to Signal, Facebook rejected the ads and disabled its ad account. “Facebook is more than willing to sell visibility into people’s lives, unless it’s to tell people about how their data is being used,” the messaging app said.
Facebook, on the other hand, denied it shut down Signal’s ad account and claimed that the latter didn’t even try to actually run the ads in question, a CNBC report said.
“If Signal had tried to run the ads, a couple of them would have been rejected because our advertising policies prohibit ads that assert that you have a specific medical condition or sexual orientation, as Signal should know. But of course, running the ads was never their goal — it was about getting publicity.”
Signal, of course, disputed this, reiterating on Twitter that the ads were indeed rejected and providing screenshots of their disabled ad account.
Signal, the privacy-focused messaging app, said it tried to run Instagram ads to highlight how much information Facebook collects about users. Facebook, in turn, accused Signal of pulling a disingenuous “stunt”.
Signal said it tried to run a “multi-variant targeted ad” on Instagram, using Facebook’s own advertising tools to show people how they’re being targeted by ads. Facebook has been frequently bashed for collecting and using reams of personal user data for advertising purposes.
According to Signal, Facebook rejected the ads and disabled its ad account. “Facebook is more than willing to sell visibility into people’s lives, unless it’s to tell people about how their data is being used,” the messaging app said.
Facebook, on the other hand, denied it shut down Signal’s ad account and claimed that the latter didn’t even try to actually run the ads in question, a CNBC report said.
“If Signal had tried to run the ads, a couple of them would have been rejected because our advertising policies prohibit ads that assert that you have a specific medical condition or sexual orientation, as Signal should know. But of course, running the ads was never their goal — it was about getting publicity.”
Signal, of course, disputed this, reiterating on Twitter that the ads were indeed rejected and providing screenshots of their disabled ad account.
Windows 10 updates has, unfortunately, quite the history of breaking PCs. Previously, we saw updates break Bluetooth, WiFi, and possibly SSDs. This time, it would crash your PC if you use a printer.
According to Windows Latest, this is caused by the Windows 10 KB5000802 March 2021 update. And it’s an automatic security update, which means that it may have already been installed on a lot of PCs. And because it’s an automatic security update, you can’t really say no to its installation.
Reports of printers crashing PCs seem to primarily involve Kyocera printers. That being said, there are other reports involving printers from Ricoh and Zebra, among others.
For what it’s worth, Microsoft says that it is aware of the problem. The company says that they are currently investigating the matter, but has no solution to it yet. As you’d expect, the company only says that it will provide updates “when more information is available”.
If you’re affected by this, one solution is to roll the update back. There are two other workarounds shared by a Reddit user who claim to be a Microsoft staffer. One involves enabling direct printing via the Command Prompt, while the other is using the Compatibility tool. For what it’s worth, the workarounds look to be effective.
Who hasn’t heard of Clubhouse by now? The trendy social network for voice messaging is gaining unprecedented momentum, and competitors such as Twitter and Facebook promise to present their analogues as soon as possible.
But right now only owners of iOS devices have official access to this platform, just like when Instagram was first launched. However, if you like a challenge and don’t lack command line skills, you have the opportunity to join the Clubhouse right now.
How? Let’s figure it out
Unfortunately, it’s impossible to create an account without an iPhone. It’s easier to ask for an invite, and, having received a text message to your number, register online using a friend’s iOS app. Then you can exit the app and leave your friend in peace.
If this is problematic, you can use a service for testing iOS applications that provide a “virtual” iPhone for your needs, like BrowserStack, but such services aren’t usually free. For example, BrowserStack’s Desktop & Mobile package costs $39/month. Too much to our needs.
It is based on the hacked Clubhouse protocol and the author promises to remove the app after the official version for Android is released. For it to work, you need Python version 3.7 or higher. The application works on Windows and macOS.
First, as of February 19, 2021, the agora-python-sdk library compilation for Windows is broken, so instead of installing via pip, it’s better to build the project by hand. The tutorial is available here.
Secondly, for macOS, you need to give Terminal and Python access to Microphone and Accessibility. And also, you will probably need to change the key combination for the “raise your hands” command, since in macOS the module for binding hotkeys will not work properly. To do this, open cli.py in any editor and change:
if not channel_speaker_permission:
print("[*] Press [Ctrl+Shift+H] to raise your hands for the speaker permission.")
keyboard.add_hotkey(
"ctrl+shift+h",
_request_speaker_permission,
args=(client, channel_name, user_id)
)
to
if not channel_speaker_permission:
print("[*] Press [3] to raise your hands for the speaker permission.")
keyboard.add_hotkey(
"3",
_request_speaker_permission,
args=(client, channel_name, user_id)
)
Thirdly, on macOS, you will have to run apps via sudo:
sudo python3 cli.py
After launching, the app will ask you to specify the phone number and enter the authentication code, after which it will save the received token in settings.ini
This is how the program window looks like:
And here is a small video demonstrating the working app:
If 20 channels and 20 users in rooms is not enough for you, you can increase the limit by making changes to cli.py
Sony has a lot of patents for its PlayStations, and especially the controllers. But a new one granted to the company may be the wackiest one yet. To put it simply, it allows you to use “an inexpensive, simple and non-electronic device as a video game peripheral”.
The idea behind the patent is simple, wild as it is. You can basically turn any “non-luminous passive object” as a controller. The patent even comes with images of a banana being used in this manner.
For this to work, you’ll need something like a PlayStation Camera. This will be used to recognise the object that you’re using as a controller, and also track what you’re doing with it to serve as inputs. Naturally, there will be an input generator of sorts, allowing you to map buttons to parts of the object.
Other things being mentioned include the fact that you can use motion of your object to map inputs. And finally, there’s the option to use two objects as controllers.
Because this patent is so wild, you’d probably not want to hold your breath for this feature to actually be released. But if it does, then that’s your reason to hold two random objects in front of a TV, rather than a conventional controller.
